Modern tools for the study of host-agent interactions of emerging fish diseases

The sustained success of aquaculture is largely dependent on the ability to counter emerging diseases. Human pathogens may possibly also find their niche in new production forms, and give rise to potential seafood safety problems. The research programme i s aiming at the implementation of modern methods within several disciplines of veterinary medicine in order to elucidate the etiology, pathogenesis and epidemiology of emerging new diseases. The National Veterinary Institute has a position as reference la boratory, both in national and international connections, and the development of methods in order to establish quick and correct diagnoses of emerging fish diseases is crucial. The project will include the implementation of in situ applications including detection of infectious agents, cell types, functional response markers and viral cell receptors. Studies of host response include the evaluation of immune system components, with emphasis on bridging the knowledge-gap between ?descriptive? genomics and f unctional data, and host-pathogen interplay. Strategies for generic amplification of viruses from diseased and healthy animals will be part of the studies of pathogens, together with the establishment of a fish virome for important fish species. Microarra y-based diagnostics for rapid screening of fish populations for several agents will be established, and epidemiological modelling will be applied in the study of dynamics of infectious diseases in disease outbreaks. For seafood safety purposes, kinetics o f human pathogenic bacteria in muscle of symptom-free fish from disease outbreaks will be studied.