Yonathan Zohar honored for lifetime of contributions to fish endocrinology research and advances in aquaculture

Yonathan Zohar, professor of marine biotechnology, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society for Fish Endocrinology. Zohar’s work at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor has produced fundamental discoveries in fish reproductive biology and applied the findings to the aquaculture industry, resulting in major advances. In 2020, the Binational Agricultural Research Development (BARD) Fund, a partnership program between the U.S. and Israel, also recognized Zohar for the outsize economic impact of his resea

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What Do Hepatitis C and the Flu Have to Do with Saving Fish Farms?

Dr. Ten-Tsao Wong borrowed two small peptides from human viruses – one from Hepatitis C, one from Influenza A – to build a stronger vaccine for farmed fish. Viral disease is among the biggest threats to aquaculture, and existing subunit vaccines, which use just a piece of pathogen, tend to be too weak on their own. When Wong’s team attached the peptides (AH1 and AH3) to a test protein and vaccinated rainbow trout, the fish produced 300 to 1,500 times more antibodies than unmodified vaccines – no genetic modification needed. The next step is testing the peptides on real fish virus proteins, bringing a deployable aquaculture vaccine much closer.

Inside a Carbon Capture System, Two New Lifeforms are Discovered

While growing microalgae in tanks fed by industrial flue gas – a way to pull CO2 from the air – the team found two entirely new bacterial species, now named Phycocordibacter aenigmaticus and Minusculum obligatum, from a barely-explored branch of life scientists call microbial dark matter. What makes these new species remarkable is that they lack the metabolic machinery to produce their own energy or proteins, and therefore rely entirely on other species for these essential elements. Yet, despite those limits, they dominated the tanks – over 95% of the bacteria in some samples. Finding so many in the tanks raises questions about whether they help or hinder the community’s ability to utilize CO2 from flue gases.

The Unexpected Role of Nurse Shark Pancreas as a Secondary Lymphoid Organ

The adaptive immune system is compartmentalized into primary and secondary lymphoid organs. In mammals, primary lymphoid organs include the thymus and the bone marrow where immature T cells and B cells develop, respectively. In both tissues, developing lymphocytes undergo RAG-mediated somatic recombination of their antigen receptors followed by several tolerance checkpoints which prevent reactivity to self-antigens. Given the enormous diversity of B cell receptors (BCRs) and T cell receptors (TCRs) generated by the recombination process, the frequency of lymphocytes able to respond to a specific antigen is very low.1 Secondary lymphoid organs (SLOs) provide a structured environment to facilitate interactions between low frequency antigen-specific B and T cells as well as cognate antigen displayed by antigen presenting cells (APCs), resulting in the initiation of effective adaptive immune responses. The spleen is the most evolutionary ancient SLO, being present in all jawed vertebrate lineages.2,3 Generally, splenic cellular organization increases in complexity from the ancient jawed vertebrate lineages, such as cartilaginous fishes, to more recently diverged lineages such as mammals. However, in almost all lineages the spleen contains defined white pulp, where immune cells are primarily located, and red pulp which filters dead and dying red blood cells and helps transport antigens to the white pulp. Embedded within the white pulp are B cell follicles which are bordered by organized T cell zones (eg, mammals) or scattered T cell clusters (eg, cartilaginous fishes).3,4 It is within these B cell follicles that antigen accumulates and is displayed in an intact form, thus maintaining structural epitopes for antigen-specific B cell selection.

SEM of K. veneficum ingesting a cryptophyte its favorite prey

The Structure of An Algal Toxin That Killed A 3 Foot Shark Solved

Researchers led by Professor Allen R. Place at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science have identified the structure and mode of action of sterolysin, a powerful toxin produced by Karlodinium veneficum (formerly Gymnodinium veneficum).

yantao li holding up algae culture to the camera

Researchers Pursue Green Technology to Capture Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Dr. Yantao Li has been awarded a three-year, $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to understand how microalgae can be used to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants.

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IMET Alumni have Prototype Air Purifier Installed at Pittsburgh Airport

Next time you’re in Pittsburgh International Airport keep an eye out for aerium, AlgenAir’s first commercial algae air purifier. AlgenAir, founded by IMET alumni Kelsey Abernathy and Daniel Fucich, is a biotech company that utilizes algae to improve indoor air quality.

Recirculating Aquaculture Salmon Network (RAS-N)

The mision of the Recirculating Aquaculture Salmon Network is to facilitate the growth of environmentally sustainable and economically feasible Atlantic salmon RAS production in the United States in order to provide better food security and reduce the current trade deficit associated with salmon imports. This project is led by Dr. Yonathan Zohar.

An industrial research or aquaculture site on a snowy shoreline, featuring a tall metal sensor tower and a modern grey building. In the background, a calm bay sits beneath snow-capped mountains under a cloudy sky.