Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

Bacterial coldwater disease (BCWD), caused byFlavobacterium psychrophilum, has a marked deleterious impact on the freshwater salmonid aquaculture in Canada. With mortalityof some trout strains approaching 20-30% and associated heavyantimicrobial use, the costs of the disease are substantial and the risk of antimicrobial resistance is serious. In spite of the obvious need, there are no commercial vaccines available. Further, breeding programs are currentlyunderwayto improve the growth of rainbow trout, but it is imperative that anygains made via a familyselection program aren't negated byincreased mortalityor other costs due to BCWD. For these reasons, development of effective management tools to reduce the deleterious impact of this disease are needed. This project therefore has three major goals: 1. to evaluate cold-induced proteins as vaccinecandidates, 2. to identifyBCWD resistant and susceptible families of rainbow trout that can be used to understand the immunological basis for disease resistance and 3. to better characterize the humoral and cell-mediated immune responses stimulated byvaccination and bynatural and experimental infection. The results of this project should help to deliver effective tools for the prevention of BCWD and provide high qualitytraining for four doctoral candidates and several summer students.