The Environmental Toxicology Laboratories are equipped for toxicological studies on fish and the molecular biology. These laboratories are adjacent to that of Environmental Chemistry and to the laboratories of Duke's Cellular, Developmental and Molecular Biology program. Such a location makes it possible to share equipment, expertise, and technical support staff routinely with laboratories in this group. Both rooms are equipped with systems for dechlorinating city water, adjusting hardness, and controlling water temperature and dissolved oxygen. The facility contains three rooms each with independent water supplies and static and flow-through systems for holding and exposing fish.
Water quality is enhanced by mixing filtered city water with well water.
At both facilities, such water quality variables as dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, and hardness are routinely monitored and regulated. Both facilities are approved for fish research with hazardous chemicals, and the Duke Forest facility is also approved for research with 3H and 14C-labeled compounds. Investigators using these facilities have ready access to veterinarians on university staff who are charged with the care of research animals and who are highly experienced in the proper maintenance of fish colonies Collaboration with several government and academic institutions has been a practice of the ecotoxicology laboratory over the years. Currently, exposed Fundulus embryos are being analyzed in the ecotoxicology lab.