October 7, 2005 Source: Wilfrid Laurier University:
http://www.therecord.com/links/links_051006105429.html WLU profs passion is saving the fishery WATERLOO -- On every shelf, in every nook and cranny, and in every spare inch of lab space surrounding the microscopes, there are millions of fish. But the "fish" in the laboratory of biology professor Lucy Lee at Wilfrid Laurier University don't live in tanks of water. What Lee has in her lab are definitely alive, and they do represent fish, and are readily available for study. But they are fish "cell lines" that she has lovingly cultivated over the years and they are crucial to saving the fisheries industry. It is because of her patient cultivation of these cell lines that scientists all over the world can research the various diseases and toxins that are killing fish. And they can do it without tanks of fish, which would be impractical, Lee says. Lee is so passionate about her work, she sometimes goes out and buys what she needs for her lab out her own pocket. The only real fish she has in her lab are a few zebra fish she bought at a pet store. The rest of the fish in her lab are represented by these living cells in glass petri dishes. She has spleen cells, brain cells, gill cells and so on, from an amazing assortment of fish -- rainbow trout, gold fish, eel, toad fish, arctic char and many, many more. Lee grows the cells until she gets exactly the characteristics that make the cell lines "immortal." At that point, she can publish her work and her cell lines will become part of the American Type Culture Collection, a global bio-resource centre that can distribute the cells to science laboratories all over the world. In 1983, Lee published the results of the first successful fish cell line she created. It took years of work to get to that stage, she says. "It takes a lot of patience. You need 'green fingers' to develop cell lines successfully," she says. Granting agencies tend to view what she does as a "service" rather than research, and she recently lost funding. That was terribly frustrating, because she had to let people in her lab go. But Lee is now applying for grants that will hopefully allow her lab to carry on other research with these cell lines. She puts a sample of some of her cells under a microscope that is attached to a computer screen in the lab. The image that pops up on the screen shows the living organisms in the glass container. There is a moving amoeba attacking and consuming the gill cells that Lee has in that same container. It's the same type of amoeba that has been attacking the gills of fish and shellfish in various places around the world. "This amoeba lives naturally in the water, but it suddenly becomes pathogenic," Lee says. "We need to know why." The amoeba is not in Canada yet, but it is a big problem in Europe, the United States and Australia, "so it is just a matter of time before it comes here." When it does, it will be devastating, Lee says, noting the potential cost to the Canadian lobster industry alone could be in the billions of dollars. Without the cell lines, it would be impossible to study this type of disease. That is why Lee is passionate about continuing to create fish cell lines, despite the funding frustrations. "It will take years, but eventually, it will pay off," she says. rsimone@therecord.com
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