Wednesday 18 June 2014 at Noon

*** Please note this seminar will be at noon. ***

Title: “Developing vaccines and anti-viral therapies in aquaculture: Implications on vaccine development in humans”

Speaker: Dr. Arun Dhar
BrioBiotech

Abstract:
Viral disease is a major challenge in the sustainable growth of fish and shellfish farming globally. Viruses, such as infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), infectious salmon anemia virus (ISAV), infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), and viral nervous necrosis (VNN), are major pathogens of fin fish worldwide. Vaccination of farmed fish plays an important role in commercial fish farming to mitigate viral diseases. Virus-like particle (VLP)-based injection and oral vaccine was developed against infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) caused by IPNV. Rainbow trout vaccinated with IPNV VLPs provided protection against infectious virus. IPNV VLPs were found to tolerate the insertion of foreign epitope (such as human oncogene, c-myc, antigenic epitope of hemagglutinin protein of ISAV) opening a new ways to developing bi-/ multivalent vaccine against viral diseases in fish.
Unlike fish, shellfish such as shrimp do not have adaptive immunity and development of antiviral therapies remains a major challenge for high intensity shrimp aquaculture. Taura syndrome virus (TSV), white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), infectious hypodermal hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), yellowhead virus (YHV), and infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV) are the major viral pathogens in shrimp. A reverse genetics approach was adopted to engineer TSV, a single-stranded (+ve) sense RNA virus. Using a baculovirus vector, fully-assembled, infectious TSV was generated in non-host insect and mammalian cells. Infectivity assays, histopathology and transcription mapping revealed that recombinant TSV generated in these non-host cells were similar in pathogenicity to wild-type virus. The ability to produce a fully-assembled infectious virus in non-host cells was further adapted to engineering human hepatitis C virus (HCV). HCV is the major cause of chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis and primary liver cancer in human. Using a baculovirus vector, a fully-assembled HCV was generated in insect cells. Non-host virus amplification technology provides a unique approach to developing vaccine against diseases caused by viruses that are difficult to culture in vitro and for viruses for which no immortal cell line is available.

Host: Dr. Russell Hill Ph.D.