Kleinhans, D.S. and Lecaudey, V. BMC Biotechnol. 19, 68 (2019)

Frustrated with mounting your zebrafish embryos for confocal imaging? Have access to a 3D printer? Writing in BMC Biotechnology, David Simon Kleinhans and Virginie Lecaudey from Goethe University in Frankfurt detail the design and use of a 3D-printed stamp to standardize the embryo mounting process.

Into an agar cast, their stamp creates a 2D coordinate system of μ-wells that model average embryo shape and size at a given stage. Anesthetized embryos—up to 44 for the stamp described—are pipetted onto the cast and then arranged into the μ-wells. These orient the embryos along their X,Y, and Z axes, enabling simultaneous imaging of developing zebrafish that are neatly arranged in nearly identical positions, equidistant apart. Embryos can be retrieved after imaging for genotyping or additional study.