Starting to put the tanks together

We just got in a 20 gallon and a 29 gallon tank and have started to set up the filtering systems for both. The first animals I'm going to order are some sea squirts, likely Clavelina picta. I've got to figure out how to culture algae to feed them before shipping them to North Carolina (it shouldn't be too hard, I hope). Once they arrive I'll definitely post some pictures!

The next step will be to order some of the upside down jellyfish like the mangrove jellyfish (see picture). Supposedly, they can be kept in normal tanks, but they don't really swim. They pulse their bell to generate currents for feeding. Since they can't see, we will be able to use particle image velocimetry (piv) to quantify the flow fields around the bell without worry of harming them with the laser.

Setting up salt water tanks

Now that we have a few rooms in the basement of Phillips Hall (and I have a little bit of time), we are going to try to set up a couple of salt water tanks. I'd like to try to keep the sea squirt Ciona savigny in the lab and use it to measure fluid flow induced by cilia and contractions through the siphon and body. We're going to try to do this using particle image velocimetry (piv). Hopefully, the flash of the laser will not startle them. It may also be a challenge to keep them alive. They need moving water and a constant supply of food (it is harder than it sounds). If all works out, eventually I'd like to work up to taking measurements of flow rates in their heart and blood vessels.

The next step is going to be to keep some jellyfish alive in the lab. This should be more exciting for students and visitors since they actually swim! The problem is that these animals do not do well with walls. They have a tendency to slam into them and get stuck. Supposedly, cylindrical tanks with a jet that flows around the wall can keep them in the center of the tank and happy. If we can get this to work, we should be able to get spatially and temporally resolved flow fields as they swim. John Dabiri at Caltech has gotten excellent data from these animals already. Hopefully we can reproduce some of the work as an outreach tool. 

 

Welcome to the Math Physiology Group's Blog!

Hopefully this will be a good way to keep group members and friends up to date on what is going on in our new math physiology lab at UNC. I'll post some information soon about our attempts to bring in sea squirts and keep them alive in Phillips Hall Basement!