Biomarkers of cardiomyopathy diseases in Atlantic salmon
Supervisors:
Dr Hayley Haining, School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine (University of Glasgow)
Dr Kim Thompson, Moredun Research Institute
Dr Mark McLaughlin, School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine (University of Glasgow)
Prof David Eckersall, School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine (University of Glasgow)
Dr Chris Chadwick, Life Diagnostics, Inc.
Summary:
The PhD project on Biomarkers of cardiomyopathy diseases in Atlantic salmon aims to identify and develop biomarker panels for better diagnosis of cardiomyopathies of Atlantic salmon in fish farms of the aquaculture industry. These conditions, notably cardiomyopathy syndrome (CMS) and heart and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) and pancreas disease (PD) follow from viral infections and cause substantial loss to the aquaculture industry as well as resulting in poor health and welfare of salmon. Previous research using advanced proteomics has identified a number of potential biomarkers in salmon serum that could be used in the detection and monitoring of these diseases to enable the health of the salmon to be maintained at a high level. The student in the project will investigate the diagnostic value of the proteins highlighted by the proteomic study, developing and validating immunoassays and determining their value as individual biomarkers and also assessing the value in their combination in diagnostic panels in association with established biochemical and hematological tests used in health assessment.
The project will provide training for research in aquaculture focused on diagnostic test development for these economically important viral diseases of salmon. It will also introduce concepts of technology transfer with issues related to the introduction of novel technology to stakeholders and end-users on fish farms.