Final Programme | Ezham2026

Programme

October 1st

08.45 - 09.00 - Registration to the workshop

09.00 - 10.30 - Workshop on Severity classification in zebrafish and their larvae part 1

10.30 - 11.00 - Coffee break

11.00 - 12.30 - Workshop on Severity classification in zebrafish and their larvae part 2

12.30 - 14.00 - Registration to the EZHAM2026 and Welcome lunch

14.00 - 14.15 - Welcome and Introduction

14.15 - 15.00 - Keynote Lecture: Mapping Welfare Through Behavioural Choice, Sonia Rey Planellas, IRTA Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology, Spain

Chair: Livia D'Angelo

Session 1: Dive into Husbandry I

Chair: Mollie Millington

15.00 - 15.30 - Well I didn’t see that coming … Luckily my sensor array did, Bruce Newell, Zebrafish Consultant - prev. Deakin University
15.30 - 15.45 - No Space to Swim: Are Current Zebrafish Research Housing Systems Undermining Welfare Principles?, Gregory Paull, University of Exeter
15.45 - 16.00 - The ‘1 Liter’ issue: increased water volumes during routine matings have no overt beneficial impact on mating success or zebrafish well being, Stefan Schulte-Merker, University Münster

16.00 - 16.30 - Coffee break

16.30 - 16.45 - Sponsor talk - Husbandry refinement: new approaches to Zebrafish housing, feeding, breeding, enrichment and health monitoring, Tommaso Sala, Tecniplast

Session 2: Refinement (in experiments and husbandry)

Chair: Claire Allen

16.45 - 17.10 - Refinements for invasive zebrafish procedures and why they matter, Paul Georg Schroeder, Red Kite Veterinary Consultants
17.10 - 17.25 - The three EEEs (Environmental Enrichment Endeavours), Vickie Thomas-McArthur, University of Sheffield
17.25 - 17.40 - Life After the Lab: From Laboratory Fish to Companion for Inquiry-Based Learning in Biology Class, Bettina Kirchmaier, University of Frankfurt
17.40 - 17.55 - Behavioural studies - what to care about, Ana Valentim, i3S- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, UP

17.55 - 18.50 - Poster flashtalks

19.00 - 21.00 - Welcome reception

October 2nd

09.00 - 09.45 - Keynote Lecture: From Genotypes to Agents: Zebrafish Models, Non-invasive Larval Genotyping, and the Next Generation of Functional Biology, Stephen C Ekker, University of Texas - Austin

Chair: Ana Valentim

Session 3: Integrating Husbandry and Experimental Practice in Zebrafish

Chair: Ana Borges

09.45 - 10.15 - Don't go there: Multi-Aquatic Species Facility Management, Mollie Millington, The Francis Crick Institute
10.15 - 10.30 - Short-term feed withdrawal in adult zebrafish: integrated assessment of stress-related biomarkers, Elisa Fonsatti, University of Padova
10.30 - 10.45 - Zebrafish larvae as an infection model for pathogens of interest to the aquaculture sector, Ana Isabel Miranda Soares, University of Pisa

10.45 - 11.15 - Coffee break and poster session

11.15 - 11.20 - Gold Sponsor talk, Luxaqua

Session 4: Dive into Husbandry II

Chair: Joana Monteiro

11.20 - 11.30 - Welfare Indicators for Aquaculture Research, Sonia Rey Planellas, IRTA Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology
11.30 - 11.50 - Zebrafish Larviculture in the Age of Automation: When Humans, Robots and Zebrafish Collide, Carrie Barton, University of Utah
11.50 - 12.05 - Euthanasia - Considerations for research, Claire Allen, University of Sheffield
12.05 - 12.25 - From Facility Operations to Fish welfare, Ana Borges, GIMM – Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine
12.25 - 12.40 - Mitigating Construction-Induced Vibrations in Zebrafish Facilities: Practical Interventions and Facility-Level Assessment, Andy Willaert, Center for Medical Genetics Ghent

12.40 - 13.40 - Lunch

13.40 - 14.25 - Keynote Lecture: The fish sexual development test (OECD TG234) using the zebrafish: the devil is in the detail, Ioanna Katsiadaki, Cefas - United Kingdom

Chair: Joana Monteiro

14.25 - 16.25 - Session 5: Global Voices in Zebrafish Research: Updates from International Resources, Core Facilities and Research Networks

Chair: Ana Valentim

Speakers:

Zoltan Varga - ZIRC - Zebrafish International Resource Center
Jennifer Go - Centre for Comparative Medicine Research, LKS Faculty of Medicine, Hong Kong
Kalidas N. Kohale - Department of Biological Science TIFR - Mumbai
Maysu You - Taiwan Zebrafish Core Facility at National Health Research Institutes
Yvonne M. Bradford - The Zebrafish Information Network
Pauline Sallaberry Pincheira, CIB, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile
Carine Smith, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Luyuan Pan, CZRC - China Zebrafish Resource Center

16.25 - 16.55 - Coffee break + poster session

Session 6: Other fish models

Chair: Antonio Palladino

16.55 - 17.15 - New Models, Now What? Optimizing Husbandry for Danionella cerebrum and Giant Danio, Joana Monteiro, Champalimaud Foundation
17.15 - 17.35 - Age-Dependent Welfare Assessment in the African Turquoise Killifish: Development of Species-Specific Scoresheets, Elena De Felice, Università di Camerino
17.35 - 17.50 - From Breeding to Diapause: An Optimized Life-Cycle Management Protocol for Nothobranchius furzeri, Aniello Vitale, University of Napoli
17.50 - 18.05 - Reintroducing a Classic Fish Model: Insights into the Housing, Husbandry and Welfare of the Paradise Fish (Macropodus opercularis), Tarján-Rácz Anita, Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE)

20.30 - Social Dinner

October 3rd

09.00 - 09.45 - Keynote Lecture - History of Genetic Engineering in zebrafish, Freek Van Eeden, University of Sheffield - United Kingdom

Chair: Claire Allen

09.45 - 09.50 - Gold Sponsor talk - Plexx

Session 7: Sex differentiation and ageing

Chair: Elena De Felice

09.50 - 10.00 - The Role of (zebrafish)Eleutheroembryo Models as NAMs for assessing Endocrine Disruptors, Ioanna Katsiadaki, Cefas - Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science
10.00 - 10.15 - Sex-Specific Neurobehavioral Effects of Environmental Contaminants in Adult Zebrafish, ShimaTavakolian Haghighi, University of Verona
10.15 - 10.25 - Ageing in zebrafish, Freek Van Eeden, University of Sheffield

10.25 - 10.55 - Coffee break

10.55 - 11.00 - Gold Sponsor talk - Supporting Welfare, Compliance, and Reproducibility, Jana Oltovà, Sciencetrack

11.00 - 11.05 - Gold Sponsor talk - Zebrabase: Spreadsheets' Farewell, Jaroslav Pivoňka, Zebramed

Session 8: Reproducibility and reporting of zebrafish husbandry in research

Chairs : Molly Millington and Joana Monteiro

11.05 - 11.20 - Intro: Reporting and reproducibility initiative recap, Ana Borges, GIMM – Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular Medicine
11.20 - 11.35 - Reporting Standards and Reproducibility in Zebrafish Research: Lessons from Zebrafishology and the Zebrafish Journal, Stephen Ekker, University of Texas
11.35- 11.50 - Reporting Standards from the Editorial Perspective of Lab Animal, Jorge Ferreira, Springer Nature
11.50 -12.05 - Anaesthesia in Zebrafish: Reporting Standards for Reproducible Research, Ana Valentim, i3S- Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, UP
12.05 – 12.25 - Partial replacement in reporting, Claire Allen, University of Sheffield

12.25 - 13.00 - Awards and Closing remarks

13.00 - 14.00 - Light lunch