Development and Production of Standardized Reference Diets for Zebrafish Research

项目摘要 第二阶段SBIR提案的总体目标是优化和实施高质量标准 斑马鱼（Danio rerio）的参考饲料，这是一种对理解 人类健康和脊椎动物的发育。该行业的一个关键问题是， 标准化的参考饲料，具有适当的物理特性和适当的饲料管理策略， 尚未针对D开发。雷里奥。我们的行业解决方案，由协同合作驱动 子午线生物技术公司和亚拉巴马大学斯蒂芬·瓦茨博士的实验室之间的合作， 伯明翰，是开发几个开放式配方饲料的幼虫，少年和成年斑马鱼，这将 达到所需的控制水平，并由此使用这种现代和有效的生物医学动物模型， 大大改善和更加标准化。这种商业-学术合作具有重大价值 加入这个应用科学项目这种配方饮食中的关键成分将包括蛋白质包， 含有确定和有效的来源，包括基于微生物的单细胞蛋白（SCP）， 从细菌生物质获得的蛋白质来源。具有这些蛋白质来源的饮食已经由 子午线生物技术公司，其中几家公司显著改善了虾和鱼的养殖饲料技术;因此， 我们希望将该技术应用于D. Rerio和其他潜在的相关动物模型。我们共同的第二阶段 军事和具体的实验目标是许多跨两年的计划。具体目标 里程碑1（第1年工作）包括优化我们最有前途的蛋白质含量和氨基酸谱 成分和测试它对现有的SCP强化饮食中使用的试点第一阶段的工作，比较最好的 饮食的竞争对手目前在整个美国生物医学研究企业的学术核心使用的饮食， 并在表型和遗传水平上深入描述我们饮食的益处。里程碑1将寻求 确定和发展最佳饮食，并推动其市场渗透，首先是在学术界。具体目标 里程碑2（第2年工作）包括进一步优化氨基酸，脂肪酸，中性脂肪和能量， SCP成分和扩大生产规模，以满足Meridian在美国的新工厂的需求，分享 最好的饮食配方与学术斑马鱼核心，以推动采用的饮食，并集中数据 从许多学术核心中收集，供所有人和NIH ORIP使用。里程碑2将寻求渗透 学术界的斑马鱼养殖市场获得核心采用。与合作努力并行 在学术市场，Meridian和商业合作伙伴在这两年也将寻求 里程碑3，寻求扩大技术并渗透到水产养殖和养殖业 市场，其他生产物种，并可能开发人类应用。

Project Summary The over-arching goal of this Phase II SBIR proposal is to optimize and implement high quality standard reference diets for the Zebrafish (Danio rerio), an animal model of critical importance to the understanding of human health and development of vertebrate organisms. A key problem in the industry is that high quality standardized reference diets, with appropriate physical properties and adequate feed management strategies, have not been developed for D. rerio. Our solution for the industry, driven by a synergistic collaboration between Meridian Biotech and the laboratory of Dr. Stephen Watts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, is to develop several open formulation diets for larval, juvenile and adult Zebrafish, which will achieve a desired level of control and whereby use of this modern and effective biomedical animal model is substantially improved and more standardized. This commercial-academic collaboration is a significant value add to this applied science program. Key ingredients in this formulated diet will include protein packages that contain defined and effective sources, including a microbial based Single Cell Protein (SCP), an enriched protein source obtained from bacterial biomass. Diets with these protein sources have been developed by Meridian Biotech, several of which have improved shrimp and fish farming feed technologies markedly; thus, we wish to apply this technology to D. rerio and, potentially, other relevant animal models. Our mutual Phase II Milestones and Specific Experimental Aims are many across both years of the program. Specific Aims for Milestone 1 (Year 1 work) include optimizing the protein content and amino acid profile of our most promising ingredient and testing it against the existing SCP-fortified diet used in pilot Phase I work, comparing the best diet to the competitor diets currently used in academic cores across the US biomedical research enterprise, and characterizing deeply at the phenotypic and genetic levels the benefits of our diet. Milestone 1 will seek to identify and progress the best diet and drive its market penetration, initially in academia. Specific Aims for Milestone 2 (Year 2 work) include further optimizing the amino acid, fatty acid, neutral fat, and energy of the SCP ingredient and scaling up manufacturing to meet demands at Meridian’s new US-based facilities, sharing the best diet formulation with academic Zebrafish cores to drive adoption of the diet, and centralizing the data gathering from the many academic cores for use by all and the NIH ORIP. Milestone 2 will seek to penetrate the academic Zebrafish husbandry marketplace by gaining Core adoption. In parallel with collaborative efforts within the academic marketplace, Meridian and commercial partners across both years will also pursue a Milestone 3 which seeks to expand the technologies and penetrate the industry fish aquaculture and farming marketplace, other production species, and potentially develop human applications.