Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The Aquatic Toxicology Research Facility (ATRF) is the only multi-user aquatic facility of its type in Canada, and is housed within the Toxicology Centre, University of Saskatchewan (U of S). The ATRF allows researchers to study the impacts of contaminants and other stressors on a broad range of freshwater aquatic organisms ranging from microorganisms to fish and amphibians, under controlled environmental conditions. The ATRF is utilized by Canadian and International investigators independently or through research partnerships with Toxicology Centre scientists, and provides an ideal training ground for HQP. The design of the facility allows for highly specialized experimental design and delivery of water of customized quality/temperature to simulate natural environments. To continue to meet the current and future needs of researchers, the ATRF water chiller must be replaced and upgraded for continued operation of the facility. The aging ATRF chiller has reached its operational lifespan and a new chiller is essential to continue to support research. Also, the needs of researchers using the facility are evolving and the ability of the ATRF to support novel and state-of-the-art large multi-facet research projects is vital to maintain its unique status in Canada and beyond. Replacing the failing chiller with a more advanced chilling system to provide optimal delivery of stable temperature cold water will be critical to meet current needs, and enable future success of the highly innovative, high impact research programs of researchers. We currently have over 200 tanks and other experimental units that are used by more than 10 researchers, 30 HQP and 13 research projects (including a $9.6M Genome Canada and a $70M CFREF grant) relying on stable cold temperature water supply. The proposed 40 ton chiller will be able to accommodate the 5°C - 22°C seasonal fluctuations in city water temperature and produce 151 lpm of 10°C water year round. The new chiller has two separate circuits that provide built in redundancy and flexibility for the ATRF, which is critical to allow optimal and uninterrupted water delivery that will prevent disruption of ongoing research projects and provide optimal aquatic animal care. In addition, this chiller will increase our current water chilling capacity and delivery, ensuring that researchers are able to meet novel research challenges and continue running large-scale experiments with cold-water organisms, and thus provide a strong foundation for HQP training and advancement of their research programs. The ATRF is an essential component of a large number of NSERC-funded research programs at the U of S that focus on aquatic toxicology research. In addition, researchers from other universities, government and industry have recognized the uniqueness and capabilities of the facility that are utilizing/have utilized the ATRF to address their research needs.