Research facilities and contract services

We aim to provide the highest standard of facilities and consultancy services in an ever-changing commercial, academic and regulatory environment.

Our high standards

We strive to operate to the highest possible standards with our services.

Our research facilities are licensed and inspected by the UK Home Office. We undertake regulatory studies in compliance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP). All sites are licensed and inspected by regulatory authorities, including the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Marine Scotland Fish Health Inspectorate.

Research facilities

Our laboratories provide facilities to conduct pioneering and commercially relevant research in partnership with leading aquaculture companies.

We’ve four research facilities providing a range of environmental conditions: marine, freshwater, temperate and tropical. Our systems include recirculating aquaculture systems, challenge unit, constant temperature rooms, hatchery and invertebrate.

Find out more about our salmonid freshwater capability at Niall Bromage Fresh Water Research Unit (NBFRU), Buckieburn, Denny.

Find out more about our marine site at Marine Environmental Research Laboratory (MERL), Machrihanish, Campbeltown.

Inside the Niall Bromage Freshwater Research Unit

EU AQUAEXCEL project

The Institute of Aquaculture has a host infrastructure within the EU Horizon 2020 AQUAEXCEL3 project. This means we are open for researchers from organisations in other countries to apply through AQUAEXCEL to make use of our research facilities and collaborate with our staff on short-term research projects. Research projects need to be of high quality with good potential to benefit the European aquaculture sector.

AQUAEXCEL

Contract research services

We offer a long-established and successful contract research service that supports the development and testing of products for use in aquaculture and fisheries, including parasiticides, antibiotics, vaccines, feeds and feed additives.

Our laboratories conduct pioneering fundamental research and commercially relevant research in partnership with leading aquaculture companies.

 We work in all the key priority research areas, including:

  • genomic, molecular and bioinformatics
  • microbiology and immunology
  • imaging facilities
  • nutrition analytical services
  • water quality services

Contact us

Please contact us if you would like to know more about using our facilities.