Disputation: Elisabeth Opsjøn Lampe

Doctoral candidate Elisabeth Opsjøn Lampe at the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, is defending the thesis "The fish pathogen Francisella noatunensis subsp noatunensis: virulence factor characterization and vaccine development" for the degree of Philosophiae Doctor.

Elisabeth Opsjøen Lampe

Trial lecture - time and place

15.09.2022, 10.15, Auditorium 1, Pharmacy building

Interactions between vaccination and microbiota

Conferral summary

Francisella noatunensis ssp. noatunensis forårsaker sykdommen francisellose hos atlantisk torsk og er et stort problem for torskeoppdrett. For å øke vaksinerelevant kunnskap ble det konstruert mutanter av bakterien uten virulensfaktorene IglC og ClpB og disse ble studert i celler fra hodenyre hos torsk, i amøben Dictyostelium discoideum, sebrafiskembryoer og voksen sebrafisk. Mutantene ga mildere infeksjon hos sebrafiskembryoer enn villtypen og hos voksen sebrafisk stimulerte mutantene en beskyttende immunreaksjon mot villtype-bakterien.

Main research findings

Francisella noatunensis ssp. noatunensis (F.n.n.) is a bacterium causing chronic and acute disease in the Atlantic cod industry and there is no efficient treatment or vaccine. F.n.n.-mutants lacking specific genes were constructed and they showed decreased capability to grow and cause disease in different models, like the amoebae Dictyostelium discoideum, zebrafish embryos and adult zebrafish. D. discoideum served as a suitable model for F.n.n. infection and experiments revealed that iglC is important for bacterial survival also for F.n.n. and that part of the cell degradation apparatus plays a role during F.n.n. infection. The deletion mutants, ∆iglC and ∆clpB, were tested in two different doses in adult zebrafish and the lower dose was well tolerated by the fish and stimulated a protective immune response against later exposure to a high dose of the original F.n.n. strain.

Read more (in Norwegian)

Jaktar vaksine mot frykta torskesjukdom (Titan, 5. sep. 2022)

Published Sep. 1, 2022 8:41 AM - Last modified Sep. 15, 2022 8:21 AM