Thank you for your interest in making a new resource available to the research community by submitting a fish strain to the ZIRC. Please take a moment and review our requirements, instructions, and criteria for submitting your strain. Importation of a strain to ZIRC is a 5-step process, and it may be several weeks before you can ship your strain to us, and several months until your line is fully established at the ZIRC.

Overview

• A. Requirements for Line Submission
• 1) Pairs of adult fish required
• 2) Maintain your strain(s) until notification from ZIRC
• 3) ZFIN nomenclature
• B. Criteria for Approval
• C. Instructions
• 1) Fill in online form: Provide initial strain information
• 2) Review process and Acceptance Criteria
• 3) Notice of approval or rejection
• 4) Clarification of strain info (if needed)
• 5) Acceptance and Shipping Information
• 6) Contact, questions, comments

Requirements for Line Submission
   Due to limited personnel, tank space, and a large number of fish submitted to the Resource Center, we have now set a priority of acceptance for each line. Please review our requirements to accept your strain:

1. The Resource Center currently accepts adult fish only. Healthy, breed-able, identified adult carriers (at least 5 males and 5 females) are required. This ensures a speedy importation process and allows us to establish your strain in the most efficient manner at the ZIRC. Please consider that by accepting fish strains, the Resource Center provides a direct service to you because in future, you will not have to maintain and/or distribute the strain to the community.
2. You agree to maintain your strain until we have notified you that your strain is well established at the ZIRC and the importation process has been completed.
3. All mutant, transgenic, and wild-type lines must have a ZFIN record and approved nomenclature. Please contact Sridhar Ramachandran, sramacha@uoneuro.uoregon.edu at ZFIN for nomenclature assistance.

Criteria for Approval
   Criteria for acceptance:

1. Is the line(s) important for current or anticipated future research?
2. How difficult is genotypic/phenotypic identification or maintenance of the line?
3. Is the mutation mapped and/or cloned? Are molecular protocols (PCR) available for easy identification?
4. Is the line(s) published?
5. Can the line(s) be maintained elsewhere until firmly established in the Resource Center?

   Note: An external review board composed of 3 or more scientists with extensive and varied expertise in many areas of biomedical research reviews your submission. The review committee makes consensus decisions on a case-by-case basis, taking the criteria into account as guidelines. The Resource Center has limited technological and personnel resources; only strains that can be easily maintained and identified based on their phenotypic/genotypic characteristics are typically accepted.

Instructions
   To submit (a) fish strain(s):

1. Please use our web-based submission form. Also, please choose the appropriate link specifying whether or not you need a License agreement.
   
   MTA Information: If your line(s) requires a License, you can arrange for one by contacting us or by printing the necessary Zebrafish License Agreement found on our web site. ZIRC tracks all MTA's for lines distributed, however, this information is confidential and cannot be redistributed.
   
   Please complete these fields and pages as thoroughly as possible. The members of our external review board need as much information as possible to be able to evaluate your information. It is particularly helpful to give as much detail as possible about husbandry requirements and how mutants or transgenics can be identified. Please be very precise when you describe phenotypes/genotypes. Insufficient phenotypic or genotyping information may result in a poor priority rating of the strain(s) you want to submit!
   
   Before filling in the on-line form, please review the required information that you will be asked to fill in for a mutant, transgenic, or wild-type line by viewing the PDF document entitled Fish Line Submission Form.
   
   After you have completed the on-line submission form, you will receive confirmation that your submission info has been received by the ZIRC and that it is complete enough to be forwarded to our external review board.
2. The external Resource Center Acquisitions Board reviews your submission information. The Board decides whether to approve the line(s) or not. Estimated review time is 2-4 weeks.
3. After the review process is complete, you will receive a letter via email about whether or not your strain(s) have been approved for importation. In case of a rejection, our reasons for rejection will be explained, and you will be informed about the possibility of submitting the line at a later time.
4. If your submission is approved, members of our staff will re-contact you at that time to clarify potential questions about phenotypic or genotypic identification, PCR protocols etc. This information may be a prerequisite for accepting your strain(s) and importing them successfully and efficiently to the ZIRC.
5. When the line(s) are accepted, information about the shipping process will be provided to you in the acceptance letter. Due to the high volume of lines being submitted, shipping arrangements may take up to 2-3 months. Please do not send fish until you hear back from us! After sending fish, please continue to maintain your strain until we notify you that your strain is established at the ZIRC and the importation is completed.
6. Any questions and comments can be directed to us via our online form.

Thank you for your support and understanding.
ZIRC

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