Training of Marta Blanes and Leonor Ferrão

 Between October 24th and November 26th, this year we had the pleasure of hosting Marta Blanes and Leonor Ferrão of the Group of Aquaculture and Biodiversity under the leadership of Prof. Juan F. Asturiano at the Polytechnical University of Valencia in Spain. Marta and Leonor were trained by Zoran in various techniques including isolation of germline stem cells (GSCs), treatment of embryos with  morpholinos to induce sterility as well as transplantation of GSCs into suitable recipents. Their work was part of the EELGONIA project funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. During their stay, Marta and Leonor have isolated GSCs from cryopreserved gonads of the European eel and transplanted them under Zoran's supervision into sterilized zebrafish and common carp larvae. The recipient larvae are currently grown in our facilities and we cannot wait to see what will happen to the transplanted cells.

Marta and Leonor with members of our team in front of our building