Progress 02/01/15 to 01/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:In general, our target audience for this project was infectious disease managers across animal and human systems. We were particularly interested in reaching those engaged in vaccine development or delivery. Our work has implications for the evaluation and long-term sustainability of vaccine efficacy. More specifically, our research focused on vaccines against a viral pathogen (infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus) infecting rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). As such our findings are directly applicable to that system and individuals engaged in rainbow trout aquaculture. Rainbow trout represent one of the leading aquaculture species in the USA, as well as globally, and IHNV is one of the primary pathogens impacting production. Furthermore, this virus heavily impacts aquaculture, fisheries, and conservation of many salmonid species managed by private, state, federal, and tribal agencies. Our work is intended to bolster the management of this pathogen by those various groups. Furthermore, our research serves as an excellent model for other pathogen systems where vaccines are used or developed. The number of such systems is vast, as is the diversity of groups engaged in these activities. We are also interested in reaching teachers and students who are engaged in disease management education. We are hopeful that our results are useful for informing vaccine theory components of these instructional activities. Much of our findings have or will be disseminated through professional publications or presentations at scientific conferences on topics such as disease ecology and evolution, virology, fish disease management, vaccination, and aquaculture. These meetings are attended by individuals across a variety of career types such as academics, researchers, veterinarians, policy makers, aquaculturists, vaccine developers, conservationists, and concerned citizens. Collectively, our target audience spans private, government, and academic sectors.? Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This grant trained a post-doc who was employed full-time for 3 years of the project. The postdoc gained skills in virology, in vivo experimentation, experimental evolution, molecular biology, microbiology, data analysis, results presentation, manuscript preparation, and mentoring. These skills allowed the postdoc to acquire permanent employment with a private vaccine development company. The project also trained one technician, who was employed part-time on the project for 2 years. The technician gained skills in virology, fish husbandry, in vivo experimentation, molecular biology, microbiology, and data analysis. These skills allowed the technician to secure permanent employment with an academic research institution. Two undergraduate students were also trained under the project. They gained skills in virology, fish husbandry, in vivo experimentation, molecular biology, microbiology, data analysis, and results presentation. Both undergraduates were from under-represented groups in science and have transitioned into successful careers. The project also supported 0.2 FTE per year of principle investigator Andrew Wargo, who directed the project. This allowed for establishment of Dr. Wargo's research program and was instrumental in his promotion for Assistant to Associate Professor. Dr. Wargo gained skills in project management, mentoring, supervision, and experimental evolution. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through a variety of scientific conferences across the United States. These meetings were attended by a diversity of industry, government, and academic researchers; across the basic and applied sciences. As discussed in the Target Audience section, these meetings were focused on a range of topics, including human and animal health, aquaculture, sustainability, vaccination, virology, and disease management; thus reaching broad audiences. These meetings also engaged attendees from the general public, increasing disease management awareness. There was also extensive dissemination through direct communication of results to aquaculturists and private aquaculture companies, as well as USDA aquaculture labs. Work was also disseminated through publication of manuscripts in peer reviewed scientific journals. These dissemination efforts will continue over the next few years and in particular we anticipate additional published manuscripts. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We made several accomplishments under our grant objectives. Firstly, we developed a novel method for multiple rounds of transmission of virus between vaccinated fish in a serial passage design. This work has been published in Diseases of Aquatic Organisms. We then completed several large-scale experiments examining how three vaccine types prevent disease and transmission of our study virus (IHNV) in rainbow trout. These studies demonstrated that the vaccine types tested differed in disease and transmission blocking efficacy. In general, vaccines that more effectively prevented disease were also more effective at blocking transmission, however, transmission blocking efficacy was low overall. In other words, vaccines that significantly reduced disease still allowed for a large amount of viral transmission between fish. We then conducted a large-scale experiment serially passaging virus through vaccinated and unvaccinated fish. This allowed us to examine how the virus evolved in response to vaccination, so that we could assess which vaccines best prevented virulence evolution. We observed both evolutionary increases and decreases in the virulence of virus that was passaged through vaccinated fish. This suggest that vaccination can drive the evolution of increased virulence, but doesn't do so in all cases. Our data also indicated that some vaccine types protect better against virulence evolution than others, with those that best block transmission, being the most effective. Lastly, we demonstrated that dead fish can transmit virus, but only for a short window of time. Thus, dead fish should be considered when managing the transmission and evolution of the virus. Our results are currently being prepared for publication and we anticipate 3-4 peer reviewed manuscripts from this work. Our results are notable because they demonstrated that vaccine types differ in their transmission and virulence evolution protection efficacy. Vaccine efficacy against transmission and virulence evolution is rarely assessed, however it can have long-term implications for disease management. We have shown, as have others, that vaccines that do not protect against transmission and virulence evolution, can allow for the evolution of more virulent pathogen strains. This can render a vaccine useless for protecting against the target pathogen and result in exacerbated disease levels in the long-term. Our results confirm that vaccines are an important and powerful tool for pathogen management. However, our findings imply that it is critical to assess the transmission and virulence evolution prevention of vaccines, in addition to disease prevention, when evaluating efficacy. This will result in more effective and sustainable vaccines and greatly improve pathogen eradication. Although our work is directly relevant to the system of study, it serves as a valuable model for all systems where vaccines are utilized or under development.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Doumayrou, J, Brown, Q, Brown, H, Wargo, AR. Transmission of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus from dead fish.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Doumayrou, J, Wargo, AR. Protection efficacy of vaccines against virulence evolution of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in rainbow trout
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Doumayrou, J, Frasier MG, Wargo, AR. Efficacy of three vaccines against infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus disease and shedding in rainbow trout.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Doumayrou, J., Ryan, M. G., & Wargo, A. R. (2019). Method for serial passage of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) in rainbow trout. Diseases of aquatic organisms, 134(3), 223-236.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2018
Citation:
Wargo, A.R. and Doumayrou, J. â¿¿Prevention efficacy of vaccines against virulence evolution of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virusâ¿
CRAWD, Chicago, IL
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Wargo, AR. Sustainable Disease Management in Aquaculture. IICSEE Meeting.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Wargo, AR, Jones DR, Doumayrou, J. Prevention efficacy of vaccines against the transmission and virulence evolution of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in rainbow trout. Aquaculture America.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Wargo, AR, Doumayrou, J. Can vaccination induce the evolution of increased virulence in infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus. Virus Evolution Meeting.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Wargo, AR. Infectious disease management: Are we missing something? AHS departmental seminar.
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Progress 02/01/17 to 01/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:In year three of the project our target audience included basic science and agriculture researchers as well as fish aquaculturists. This included veterinarian, government, private, and academic scientists conducting research in the fields of infectious disease management, vaccine development, and microbiology. We reached these individuals through presentations of our work at scientific meetings and conferences. In year 3 we also continued to build communications and foster our collaborations with the vice president of a major fish farm in Idaho. The company is supplying us with research grade fish for our research and consultation about vaccine usage in the field. We have been communicating with them strategies to improve vaccine efficacy in the field and have begun collaborative studies. The company continues to recognize the value of our work in improving long-term vaccine efficacy and serving as a consultant and industry liaison on the project. We have also been actively engaged in collaborations and consultations with the USGS and USDA about vaccination and selective breeding strategies. Changes/Problems:No major changes on the project were made in year 3. In year 1 of the project, it took longer than expected to hire a postdoc on the project. This resulted in some delay in project spending. However, we have made up for most of this lost time in year 2 and 3 and plan to make up for the rest through a no-cost extension. We are now operating on the project at anticipated levels of productivity. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?One postdoc was funded on this project in year 3. She acquired skills in virology, molecular biology, evolutionary biology, and in vivo research. She was also responsible for mentoring two undergraduates and a high school student on the project during this time. As such, she developed proficiency in supervising and mentoring. The postdoc also presented her work on this project at over three meetings in year three. This allowed her to further her proficiency in outreach and presentation skills, as well as build her professional network. In addition to the postdoc, two undergraduates were supported on the project. Each of these students had little prior research experience, and they were provided with training in virology, microbiology, molecular biology, in vivo research, and animal husbandry. One student was required to draft a manuscript and provide an oral presentation of her research on the project, as part of an Research Experience for Undergraduates program internship. She thus acquired skills in data analysis, manuscript preparation, and research presentation. A high school student was also provided with a research experience through this project in year 3. This represented her first engagement in biological research, which represents a rare opportunity for students in her community. She gained skills in virology, microbiology, molecular biology, and in vivo research. Lastly, this project provided the PI, Andrew Wargo, with the opportunity to participate in the NIFA grant holders meeting and build his professional network. It also allowed him to develop his mentoring skills by supporting the above-mentioned postdocs, undergraduates, and high school students in his research laboratory. Ultimately, this grant was critical for Dr. Wargo establishing and maintaining a successful research program at VIMS, and will likely play a vital role in his retention and promotion. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?To date, results have largely been disseminated through presentations at professional meetings. This includes oral and poster presentations at scientific conferences as well as stakeholder gatherings. Individuals attending these meetings include veterinarians, agriculturists, and basic science researchers from government, academia, and industry. This work was presented at approximately eight meetings in year 3 of the project. Some of the notable meetings attending include the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease meeting, the Virus Evolution meeting, and the NIFA grant holders meeting. Through these meetings we have been able to reach global audiences engaged in animal health and agricultural research. We also disseminated our results through discussions and meetings with a major fish farming company in Idaho, Clear Springs Foods Inc. We provide the company with quarterly updates of our research findings, and this past year we conducted a largescale experiment on their facility. During the time we spent on site conducting this study, we were able to engaging in numerous discussions with various staff members and the facility about this project. We also facilitated the establishment of contacts for them with epidemiologists. Clear Springs is eager to use the results from our work to inform their vaccine strategies. We have also been actively engaged in collaborations with the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center, and the USDS NCCCWA. Through these collaborations, we have been able to disseminate our findings on this project to these two agencies. We have also been able to provide these agencies with information on the efficacy of various vaccination and selective breeding strategies. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Although our project was scheduled to end in January of 2018, we intend to apply for a no-cost extension. As such, we anticipate an additional year on the project. During this year, we will finish processing the viral shedding samples from aim 1 of the project. This will allow us to determine which vaccine types best block against viral shedding and transmission. Next year, we will also fish the studies of aim 2 of the project. We anticipate isolating and culturing all the virus from our serial passage study in the next few weeks. We will then run a largescale virulence challenge to determine which vaccine type best blocks against virulence evolution. If the results from this study are inconclusive, we will repeat the study next year. We already have one manuscript from this project in preparation, which we intend to submit in the next few weeks. We anticipate at least an additional two manuscripts from the project in the next year. We will continue to train postdocs, undergraduates, and high school students on the project over the next year. We will also begin supporting a technician on the project. We will also continue to disseminate our results at professional meetings, as well as through our collaborations with the fish farm company in Idaho, the USGS, and the USDA.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Quantify the efficacy of three vaccine types at blocking the transmission of high and low virulence IHNV genotypes. Major progress was made towards this objective in year three of the project. We ran a large-scale experiment (20 fish per treatment) examining the protection efficacy of three vaccine types against the shedding of IHNV. This involved vaccinating fish with either a DNA, attenuated, or inactivated vaccine and then exposing them to live virus. Fish were isolated into individual tanks and water samples taken daily, to track daily virus shedding kinetics over the course of infection. We are currently processing the water samples from these experiments, but our mortality data indicates the vaccines protected well against host mortality. Some variation in mortality protection was observed, with the highest protection provided by the DNA vaccine, followed by the attenuated vaccine, and lastly the inactivated vaccine. This indicates that differences between the three vaccines in their efficacy at protecting against viral shedding, and thus transmission, are also likely. We anticipate that the results from this study will allow us to determine which vaccine type best protects against viral shedding and transmission. Objective 2: Elucidate the IHNV virulence evolution prevention efficacy of three vaccine types through serial-passage transmission experiments. Major progress was also made towards this aim in year 3 of the project. Firstly, we successfully developed a protocol for conducting multiple rounds of virus transmission between fish (serially passaging). This will allow us to rapidly examine the evolution of the virus in vaccinated and unvaccinated hosts. Because such studies had not been previously conducted in this system, it was necessary to perform approximately 10 pilot experiments before a successful protocol was found. We then implemented this protocol in a large-scale experiment (18 replicates per treatment), serially passaging virus through fish vaccinated with one of three vaccine types (DNA, attenuated, and inactivated). We then harvested the fish at each serial passage step, so as to preserve live virus. We are currently in the process of isolating live virus from these fish to determine if virulence evolution has occurred and which vaccine type protects best against virulence evolution. One of our pilot studies indicated that virulence evolution does not occur after one round of transmission. However, previous studies indicate that additional rounds of transmission are likely to be necessary for viral evolution to occur. We also collected water samples during these experiments, to determine how many fish were shedding virus at each transmission step. These samples revealed that the virus in general maintains transmission for more serial passage generations in unvaccinated fish compared to vaccinated fish. The exception to this was fish vaccinated with the inactivated vaccine, where transmission was maintained for 16 generations in one replicate. Virus titers from this replicate were also very high, indicating that the inactivated vaccine may have induced virulence evolution. Further characterization of this virus is necessary to confirm these results. This represents one of the few systems where pathogen evolution can be observed in such short time scales. We anticipate the results from these studies will allow us to determine which vaccine type best protects against virulence evolution, and thus has the most sustainable efficacy in the field.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Wargo, A.R. Quantification of the Prevention Efficacy of Vaccines against Virulence Evolution of Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus in Aquaculture. NIFA grant holders meeting, Chicago, IL.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Doumayrou, J. and Wargo, A.R."How do vaccination and genetic resistance impact co-infection, transmission dynamics of Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus and Flavobacterium psychrophilumin rainbow trout?"AHS Departmental seminar,VIMS, Gloucester Point, VA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Doumayrou, J. and Wargo, A.R."How do vaccination and genetic resistance impact co-infection and transmission dynamics of Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus and Flavobacterium psychrophilumin rainbow trout?"Virus EvolutionMeeting, PennsylvaniaStateUniversity, State College, PA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Doumayrou, J. and Wargo, A.R. "Impact of vaccination on disease in aquaculture"2nd Southeastern Virginia Postdoc Symposium,VIMS, Gloucester Point, VA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Jones, D.R.and Wargo, A.R. Impacts of vaccination on transmission and infection dynamics in rainbow trout . AFS Fish Health Meeting, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Jones, D.R.and Wargo, A.R. Impacts of vaccination on transmission and infection dynamics in rainbow trout Eastern Fish Health Workshop, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Wargo, A.R., Lipsitch, M., Gomes, G.M.G., Wiens, G.D., Kurath, G., Langwig, K.E., Doumayrou,J., Jones, D.R., Leeds, T.E., Everson, J. The missing dimensions in vaccine efficacy inference Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease Meeting, Santa Barbara, CA
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2017
Citation:
Jones, D.R.and Wargo,A.R. Impacts of vaccination and genetic disease resistance on transmission of IHNV and Flavobacterium psychrophilumin rainbow trout William and Mary Graduate Research Symposium, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
|
Progress 02/01/16 to 01/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:In year two of the project our target audience included basic science and agriculture researchers as well as fish aquaculturists. This included veterinarian, government, private, and academic scientists conducting research in the fields of infectious disease management, vaccine development, and microbiology. We reached these individuals through presentations of our work at scientific meetings and conferences. In year 2 we also continued to foster communications with our collaborator who is a fish farmer in Idaho. We developed a second contact with the vice president of his company. The company is supplying us with research grade fish for our research and consultation about vaccine usage in the field. We have also been communicating with them strategies to improve vaccine efficacy in the field and we are discussing expanded collaborative studies. The company continues to recognize the value of our work in improving long-term vaccine efficacy and serving as a consultant and industry liaison on the project. We have also established contact with a large trout egg production company. We are in the process of developing a collaboration with them to investigate strategies for improving vaccine efficacy in their trout line. We anticipate beginning these studies in 2017. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In year 2 we continued to train a post-doctoral researcher on the project. She developed a mastery of fish care and husbandry, virus culture, vaccine development, quantitative PCR assay development, conducting vaccine trials, conducting viral shedding experiments, processing samples from viral shedding experiments, analyzing mortality and shedding data from vaccine trials, and presenting results from vaccine trials. This training was provided by the PI on the project, Andrew Wargo. The postdoc was also given mentoring responsibilities for a graduate student in year 2 and thus developed mentoring skills. Furthermore, she attended one scientific meeting in year 2, where she was provided with an opportunity to network and bolster her presentation skills. PI Andrew Wargo was also provided with professional development opportunities. This project allowed him to attend the NIFA grant holders meeting where he was provided with the opportunity to network and establish collaborations with other individuals engaged in infectious disease research. He was also provided with the opportunity to develop postdoctoral mentoring skills and well as general research group management and oversight experience. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results from the project have largely been disseminated through presentations at scientific meetings and conferences, which are listed in the products section. These meetings have included academic, government, and industry attendees in the fields of agricultural, infectious disease, and disease management research. We have also disseminated results by sharing data and engaging in conversation with our collaborators in the fish aquaculture industry. These conversations have occurred via email as well as phone communication. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Objective 1: Quantify the efficacy of three vaccine types at blocking the transmission of high and low virulence IHNV genotypes. We will be running a large experiment to investigate the disease protection efficacy of IHNV three vaccine types in rainbow trout. This experiment is currently being setup and will be completed by March. We will run a second large experiment to investigate the shedding kinetics of IHNV in fish vaccinated with each of the 3 vaccine types, infected with high and low virulence IHNV genotypes. This experiment is expected to occur in March 2017 and will provide information on the transmission blocking efficacy of the three vaccines. These two studies should complete objective 1. Objective 2: Elucidate the IHNV virulence evolution prevention efficacy of three vaccine types through serial-passage transmission experiments. We are currently optimizing the protocol to establish transmission of IHNV between vaccinated fish, to be used for the serial passage experiments. We expect to have the protocol completed in the next few months. We will then be running a large serial passage experiment of two virus stains in fish vaccinated with three different IHNV vaccine types. We anticipate having these serial passage experiments completed in year 2. We will then characterize the fitness and virulence of virus that has undergone serial passage, in order to elucidate which vaccine type best protects against virulence evolution. Dissemination of our work will be another major goal of year 2. This will be done through presentations at scientific meetings and conferences, as well as continued discussions with our collaborators in the aquaculture industry. We plan to travel to the Idaho aquaculture region to meet with these collaborators and disseminate findings on site. We also anticipate 2 peer reviewed publications resulting from this work in year 3. We will also produce anindustry fact sheet and update our project website.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Quantify the efficacy of three vaccine types at blocking the transmission of high and low virulence IHNV genotypes. We have now conducted two large scale studies looking at the shedding kinetics (a proxy for transmission) of IHNV in fish vaccinated with one of our vaccine types, a DNA vaccine. The studies involved tracking the daily viral shedding of 100's of individual vaccinated and unvaccinated fish through time. The samples from this study have been processed and the data is being analyzed. The major finding was that the DNA vaccine reduces virus shedding but does not completely block it. This suggests that transmission is possible from fish vaccinated with the DNA vaccine. Therefore, current strategies may need to be modified in order to successfully control IHNV with this vaccine. In year 2 we also completed a large experiment examining the protection efficacy of our three vaccine types, against IHNV induced mortality in fish. Unfortunately, the fish for this experiment came in with a background infection of a different pathogen, which resulted in high levels of mortality and inconclusive results. However, the results did indicate some level of vaccine protection from each vaccine, against two different IHNV strains. We will be repeating this study in year 3. These studies are essential for characterizing the protection efficacy of the three vaccine types as well as elucidating the duration of viral transmission. Objective 2: Elucidate the IHNV virulence evolution prevention efficacy of three vaccine types through serial-passage transmission experiments. In year 2 we conducted numerous studies to establish the protocol of inducing direct transmission of IHNV between fish. This protocol will be essential for conducting the serial passage experiments in objective 2. We have successful achieved transmission, and are further optimizing the protocol to bolster the level of transmission in unvaccinated fish. Our preliminary results suggest from objective 1 suggest that transmission of virus from fish vaccinated with the DNA vaccine is possible, and therefore serial passage will likely result in virulence evolution with this vaccine. We will be comparing this to the other two vaccine types to determine which best prevents virulence evolution.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Enhancing epidemiological inference through an integration of ecology and evolution. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Virulence epidemiology: Harnessing evolution to manage disease. SUNY Albany, Albany, NY
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Quantification of the prevention efficacy of vaccines against virulence evolution of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus in aquaculture. NIFA grant holders meeting, Chicago, IL
|
Progress 02/01/15 to 01/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:In year one of the project our main target audience was basic science and agriculture researchers. This included veterinarian, government, private, and academic scientists conducting research in the fields of infectious disease management, vaccine development, and microbiology. We reached these individuals through presentations of our work at scientific meetings and conferences. Our second target audience was fish aquaculturists. In year 1 we developed communications with a fish farmer in Idaho. This individual recognizes the value of our work in improving long-term vaccine efficacy and serving as a consultant and industry liaison on the project. The farmer is supplying us with research grade fish for our research and consultation about vaccine usage in the field. Changes/Problems:The largest change to our project was instead of hiring a graduate student on the project we decided to hire and train a postdoctoral associate. This decision was made because the duration and complexity of the project make it unsuitable for a graduate student. It would also likely take 2 years to recruit a graduate student for the project, causing significant delays on project productivity. Due to the reduction of our budget from $500,000 to $480,000; we were also unable to hire a technician for years 1 and 2 of the project. We anticipate hiring a technician in year 3. Lastly, the hiring of postdoc for the project took longer than anticipated (8 months), this caused some delay in getting started on the project. However, we are now working on the project at full speed and expect to make up for lost time in year 2. We still anticipate we will be able to successfully complete the project objectives. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In year 1 of the project we successfully hired a postdoctoral associate on the project. She was subsequently trained in all the necessary skills needed for the project, including: 1) fish cell culture, 2) vaccine development, 3) qPCR assay development, 4) fish care, 5) experimental design, 6) in vivo experimental setup, 7) experimental sample processing, and 8) experimental protocol development. These skills are transferrable to a variety of careers on the molecular, microbiological, and animal health sciences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have disseminated preliminary results on vaccine efficacy to a fish farmer who is a consultant on the project. These results were disseminated as figures and graphs, with an outline of the experimental design and outcomes. We have also disseminated to the fish farmer information regarding our IHNV vaccine and qPCR assay development. These resources are available to them upon request. Further dissemination included presenting our preliminary results on IHNV vaccine disease and transmission blocking efficacy, at the Eastern Fish Health Workshop. At this meeting we also discussed the efficacy of IHNV vaccines at blocking virulence evolution. This meeting was attended by a variety of interested parties including: fish farmers, veterinarians, academic scientists, government scientists, and private vaccine developers. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Year 2 will be a busy year for the project. We plan to run at least three large experiments. This will include: 1) a large virulence challenge to test the disease protection efficacy of our three IHHV vaccines. 2) A shedding experiments to assess the shedding kinetics of IHNV in vaccinated fish. 3) A transmission experiment to examine and validate the timing of IHNV transmission in vaccinated fish. We expect to make significant headway and likely complete objective 1 (Quantify the efficacy of three vaccine types at blocking the transmission of high and low virulence IHNV genotypes) of our project in year 2. The results from these studies will be disseminated to our fish farmer consultant. We will also present these results at scientific meetings such as the virus evolution meeting, as well as AFS fish health workshops, so as to reach government, academic, health, industry, and agricultural groups. We will further train the postdoc on the project and hope to recruit and train and undergraduate student to work on the project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
In year 1 of the project we successfully assembled all the materials and protocols for the project. This required a substantial degree of laboratory work. This included: 1) the development of an inactivated IHNV vaccine, 2) production of an IHNV DNA vaccine and DNA vaccine control (previously developed but required production in larger quantities), 3) production of an attenuated IHNV vaccine (previously developed but required production in larger quantities). We are now equipped with all vaccines needed for the research project. We also developed and validated three IHNV strain specific qPCR assays. These assays allow us to distinguish and quantify two strains of the virus as well as the vaccine strain. At the end of this reporting period we also setup a large virulence challenge to test the efficacy of our three vaccines at preventing mortality in IHNV exposed rainbow trout. The experiment will be completed in year 2 of the project.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2016
Citation:
Wargo, A.R., Doumayrou. J., "Does vaccination induce virulence evolution?", 41st Annual Eastern Fish Health Workshop, Atlantic Beach, NC. April, 2016.
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