2019 ANZAAP Aquatic Symposium

Director of Zebrafish International Resource Centre Oregon (ZIRC)

Zoltan holds a PhD in cell biology/neuroscience from Basel University, where he gained some experience with the care of a small colony of mammals, the South American opossum (Monodelphis domestica). He has worked with zebrafish since 1995, when he started as a post-doc at the Institute of Neuroscience at the University of Oregon (UO).

In 2004, he moved back to Eugene, Oregon to direct the Zebrafish International Resource Center at the University of Oregon. The ZIRC also provides diagnostic health services for zebrafish and provides consultations about zebrafish husbandry standards, biosafety, and colony health monitoring (zebrafish.org). Zoltan also serves on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the University of Oregon.

Due to unforeseen circumstances Zoltan Varga has become unable to travel for this event at short notice. Zoltan will still be presenting via WEBEX and will be taking part in the round table Q&A session at the end of day 2.

While we are sad that Zoltan will not have a physical presence at the symposium, he will still be delivering his planned content in an interactive manner. The symposium is still hosting three international guests in person as well as Zoltan via WEBEX.

Manager of Cephalopod operations at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Bret Grasse is the Manager of Cephalopod Operations at the internationally renowned Marine Biological Laboratories (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Bret is currently designing and managing a world-class cephalopod breeding and research facility, second to none. The primary goal of this program is to develop multigenerational cultures of several cephalopod species for a wide variety of research communities including, neurobiology, transgenics, regeneration, etc.

Laboratory Supervisor Stowers Institute of Medical research (previously Cryogenetics and ZIRC)

Carrie is a Laboratory Supervisor for the Aquatics Facility at Stowers Institute for Medical Research (SIMR) in Kansas City, Missouri. Carrie has extensive experience in fish cryopreservation and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and has published several papers pertaining to this area of interest. Carrie is also a member of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) that oversees animal welfare at SIMR.

Carrie began working with zebrafish in 2000 at the University of Oregon where she became the supervisor of the Cryopreservation and Line Maintenance programs at the Zebrafish International Resource Center (ZIRC) until 2013. During this time, she developed the cryopreservation program and performed research to improve cryopreservation and IVF techniques. This research continued and was published in 2018 by ZIRC.

Head, Reptile & Aquatics, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

Diana joined the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in 2003 to draw on her herpetological background and start up a new reptile facility. The facility rapidly expanded and in 2005 she became Head of Reptile & Aquatics when the first aquatic animals were added. To date, the AAALAC accredited facility has cared for over 60 different species including lizards, snakes, fish, frogs, and aquatic invertebrates.

Diana is a member of AALAS, IAT, LAMA, LAWTE, ZHA, and ANZLAA. She regularly speaks at local, national, and international meetings. She has been a member of the IACUC at Stowers for 14 years. She teaches all three levels of the AALAS animal technician certification courses as well as courses in laboratory animal management. Diana has achieved foundation and advanced certifications in herpetology.