Public Funding for Moredun Research Institute

Production-purpose antibiotics are one of the great Faustian bargains of the modern era: mankind has traded increased livestock yields today for AMR tomorrow. We propose that microalgae can be readily engineered to express a wide range of naturally occurring antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory compounds which can both substitute for production-purpose antibiotics as a means of maximizing feed/energy conversion ratios and treat serious bacterial infections. Our objective in this project is to unequivocally demonstrate this using multi- functionalized microalgae (MM) modified to accumulate two such agents in a series of rigorous field-trials in both healthy and E.coli (K99)-infected calves. Our project is innovative in that MM can not only express these & numerous other functional biochemical compounds, but also constitute a uniquely low-cost and practicable platform technology. 350 million Chinese still live on less than $3/day and microalgae is the only combined expression/delivery system capable of synthesizing the full range of bioactive agents required for managing the complexity of intestinal flora which can be cultivated by both industrial-scale and LMIC artisanal farmers alike.

As the world population grows and becomes more affluent, an increasing number of people include protein in their diet. Aquaculture is the fastest growing source of animal protein and a major source of income in Asia, South-America and Africa. Tilapia is a popular fish, both with farmers and consumers, but disease can cause massive losses on tilapia farms. Streptococcus agalactiae, which can affect tilapia as well as people, is a major cause of such losses. Currently, antibiotics are commonly used to combat this problem. This is not sustainable because of the risk of antimicrobial resistance. As an alternative, we propose to develop a vaccine that would protect fish from all types of S. agalactiae that affect them. This project brings together scientific expertise in the area of fish disease and vaccine development and commercial expertise in vaccine production and distribution. Jointly, the partners aim to provide the global aquaculture industry with effective and affordable tools for sustainable disease control.

UK Atlantic salmon aquaculture produces 150,000 tonnes of fish per year, with high quality food products valued at more than £1 billion in retail sales. Sea lice, parasitic crustaceans infecting salmon in the sea, are a key constraint to the sustainability of farmed salmon protein production, costing UK industry more than £30 million per year to control. Sea louse infections provide the single largest economic and welfare problem for UK and global salmon aquaculture. While good control of sea louse numbers has been achieved over the last 10 yrs by the use of medicines, recently the development of parasite resistance to control is posing a major threat to the sustainability of the UK and global aquaculture industry. Therefore in this project, a multidisciplinary and multisectoral research team will attempt to develop a novel vaccine capable of providing effective, eco-friendly control of sea lice infections in farmed salmon. The research consortium will build on their extensive experience in the field to generate new knowledge concerning the mechanisms by which the immune systems of salmon fight sea louse infections and will also determine the mechanisms that this parasite uses to interfere with host immunity, it being recognised that this parasite secretes a range of immuno-active products. In order to achieve these aims, the applicants will employ state-of-the art techniques including genome-mining, high-throughput sequencing and protein mass spectrometry to identify possible parasite protein targets and to examine their functions and their effectiveness as vaccine candidates.

Microwave volumetric heating (MVH), a unique technology developed by Advanced Microwave Technology (AMT) Ltd for pasteurising liquids, has the potential to inactivate Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). The key objectives are: 1. To determine MVH thermal inactivation curves for MAP in phosphate buffered saline, 2. To investigate inactivation of MAP spiked retail milk by MVH at 65, 75, 85 and 95oC and 3. To investigate inactivation of Escherichia coli in buffer and retail milk by MVH at 65, 75, 85 and 95oC. The resistance of MAP to standard High Temperature Short Time pasteurisation conditions is of concern due to the controversy that exists over the zoonotic potential of MAP and the known contamination of milk supplies. New knowledge relating to the inactivation of this resilient pathogen and efficient pasteurisation methods is of great value to the dairy industry.