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23 Jul 2010 10:06:32
The work of a professor from one of the University of Bedfordshire’s research institutes is receiving international television exposure this month.
Professor David Rawson was contacted recently by US cable news channel CNN to film his work on the cryobanking of fish specimens. This is part of the Frozen Ark project and the UK Environmental Specimen Bank at LIRANS Institute of Research in the Applied Natural Sciences, which is based at the Butterfield Park campus in Luton.
The Frozen Ark project aims to collect, preserve and store tissue, gametes, viable cells and DNA from endangered animals and focuses on the thousands of animals that are threatened with extinction.
Around a third of the 30,000 species of fish in the world are currently considered to be endangered and LIRANS is co-ordinating the cryobanking of fish species on the brink of extinction.
There are two separate ways in which tissue is stored in the cryobanking process – one preserves tissue to ensure the integrity of long-chain DNA in non-viable cells, the other preserves viable cells in tissue samples, typically fin clippings, for future culturing and the establishment of cell cultures. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to cryopreserve viable fish eggs or embryos.
The nine-minute show on ‘biodiversity’ is part of the CNN series Earth's Frontiers and will be shown on Thursday, 29 July. It will cover two projects – the work of LIRANS and one in Madagascar linked to the barcode of life project.
A female director and cameraman recently filmed some work in the laboratories at LIRANS which saw Dr Tiziana Zampolla processing some samples and both Dr Zampolla and Professor Rawson interviewed.
Professor Rawson was then joined by Joanna Smith from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) as they went to sea at Lowestoft on the fishing vessel Maximus on a trip which encountered bad sea conditions.
The crew filmed the catch and the preparation of sample tissues of four species, including the starry smooth-hound, for cold storage and transport back to LIRANS.
Professor Rawson said: “They wanted an example of some work of the Frozen Ark project and Specimen Bank. There are some 300 species of fish in British waters and some are critically endangered.
“We simplified the process for filming and it will be interesting to see how they edit the film. The filming in the labs was fine but the North Sea was rough on the day we went out and the CNN crew was ill during the six hours at sea.
“We attempted to manipulate the sample specimens while we were out at sea but this proved impossibly dangerous, so the material was eventually processed as soon as Maximus returned to port.”
For further details and programme air times, visit www.cnn.com/earthsfrontiers
Latest news» 2010» July» Watch what cryobanking is all about on CNN
