Using the Mucosal Antibody Response to Recombinant Neoparamoeba perurans Attachment Proteins to Design an Experimental Vaccine for Amoebic Gill Disease

• Project Number: 2008/749
• PhD Student: To be appointed
• Student Affiliation: University of Tasmania
• Primary Supervisor: Professor Barbara Nowak
• Co-Supervisors - Dr Mathew Cook and Dr Phil Crosbie
• Mentor: To be advised

About the Project

Amoebic gill disease (AGD) research remains a high priority for the Tasmanian salmon industry. The first step in the process of AGD is the attachment of the amoeba to the gill surface. Work conducted in the Cooperative Research Centre for the Sustainable Aquaculture of Finfish (Aquafin CRC) identified a number of Neoparamoeba proteins homologous to known attachment factors from other parasites.

Simplistically, blocking attachment of the parasite to the gill (by interfering with these proteins) may be an effective way of reducing the incidence of AGD. This relies on the presence of suitable functional antibodies (Ig) in the fish’s mucus (namely gill
mucus). Unfortunately, many commercially available tools for measuring Atlantic Salmon Ig only effectively measure the systemic (blood) form. This PhD project will develop a reliable method for
measuring mucosal antibody response of Atlantic Salmon and then will investigate the mucosal and systemic anti- N. perurans antibody response to recombinant N. perurans attachment proteins.

back to PhD research menu>

This page was last updated: 30th March 2009