The National Resource for Aplysia was founded in 1995 on the campus of UM’s Rosenstiel School with funding from the National Center of Research Resources of the National Institutes of Health. The Resource is the only place in the world where the California sea hare, Aplysia californica, are cultured throughout their lifecycle and raised for research and teaching.
These animals are valuable to science as animal models for the study of many aspects of human and animal nervous systems. The major goals of the National Resource for Aplysia are to:
- Provide high quality animals of known age and developmental stage to scientists and teachers at institutions around the world.
- Conduct research to improve the usefulness of these animals for research and teaching and to optimize husbandry practices.
- Provide public outreach on the activities conducted at the Resource and by scientists around the world using these animals.
The Resource is supported by NIH grant P40OD010952 from the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs, Division of Comparative Medicine.
