Towards mRNA vaccine for fish

Diseases caused by viruses are a main challenge for the aquaculture industry. For fish, as for humans, it is challenging to develop efficient vaccines against viral diseases. One reason is that it may not be possible to propagate virus in the lab, and thus traditional whole virus vaccines can not be made. In this project, we will develop a vaccine based on mRNA technology. The mRNA vaccine will encode an antigen from a virus that we know will lead to production of neutralizing antibodies. Thereafter, we will vaccinate fish and compare the mRNA vaccine with other vaccine types.

We have designed an mRNA that efficiently express viral antigen. Potential outcomes will be to use this as a vaccine, e.g. against viruses and intracellular bacteria for which efficient vaccines are lacking. mRNA-based vaccines can be make quickly after occurrence of novel viruses and can contribute to increased fish welfare, reduced mortality and thus increased production of salmon in the years to come.