This innovative Phase 1 project will test the feasibility of using the science of nanotechnology and emulsion chemistry to produce nanoparticles in a matrix to greatly enhance the immunogenicity of inactivated viruses. This new approach promises to have direct application to the development of… More

Although companies based outside the U.S. have tested and, in some cases, sold basic anti-viral vaccines to aquaculture producers, practicing veterinarians and virologists have been unimpressed by their extremely limited effectiveness (J. Mullins, pers. comm. 2002; J. Winton, pers. comm. 2004). The… More

Netting, tagging, and/or vaccination of shrimp or fish often result in increased stress and infections caused by opportunistic pathogens. Damaged epidermis or cuticle provides a portal of entry to potentially deadly infective agents that bind preferentially to injured cells. Recent advances in… More

Viral diseases are a major impediment to the development and expansion of environmentally safe and sustainable aquaculture systems (NMFS 2007). Despite control measures, pathogenic viruses kill millions of fish and shellfish every year (ICES Mariculture Committee 2004). To date, vaccines… More

Although aquaculture is the world's fastest-growing animal food production system, diseases remain a major impediment to the development and expansion of environmentally safe and sustainable aquaculture in the United States. Pathogenic fungal and bacterial infections of eggs, skin, and gills… More

Marine aquaculture production now exceeds 20 million metric tons annually (FAO 2010) but viral diseases are still a major threat to the expansion of sustainable mariculture systems (National Marine Fisheries Service 2007). Pathogenic viruses continue to devastate many fish and shellfish operations… More

Many fungal and bacterial pathogens produce proteolytic enzymes that facilitate penetration into fish skin or eggshells. These diseases are a major and growing challenge to sustainable aquaculture in the United States. Our Phase I research results demonstrated the feasibility of new, non-toxic,… More