News archive

Congratulations to Børre and Linn for their paper in Fish and Shellfish Immunology

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsi.2024.109694

Paper highlights

Congratulations to Andrea Luka, Victoria Fure Lukes and Per-Christian Waje Andreassen with excellent results on their master exams. Good luck as fish healt biologist! 

Our seminar and lab cleaning day was a success!

 

May 30th we enjoyed a nice day with cleaning of common labs, group meeting, pizza lunch and a seminar given by Eva-Stina Edholm. 

Novel study on local B cell responses to viral infection in Atlantic salmon

 

Virus-specific antibody secreting cells reside in the peritoneal cavity and systemic immune sites of Atlantic salmon challenged intraperitoneally with salmonid alphavirus

The review covers topics within  B cell diversity, their spatial distribution in systemic and peripheral immune sites, initiation and development of B cell responses, B cell trafficking and the locations for long-term B cell responses.

Shiferaw Jenberie, Yorick A van der Wal, Ingvill Jensen, Jorunn Jørgensen

There and back again? A B cell's tale on responses and spatial distribution in teleosts

Fish and Shellfish Immunology, doi: 10.1016/j.fsi.2024.109479.

Members of FIV at the 15th Congress of the International Society for Developmental and Comparative Immunology (ISDCI) held in Wageningen The Netherlands from August 28 – September 1.

 

Exciting talks were shared by Ingvill Jensen and Eva-Stina Edholm at the 15th congress of ISDCI.

Whole transcriptome profiling sheds light on transcriptionally distinct B cell populations in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) infected with salmonid alphavirus

Shiferaw Jenberie1, Simen Sandve2, Thu-Hien To2, Matthew P. Kent2, Espen Rimstad3, Jorunn B Jørgensen1, Ingvill Jensen1*

1Norwegian College of Fishery Science, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries & Economics, UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway; 2Center for Integrative Genetics (CIGENE), Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway; 3Norwegian University of Life Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Oluf Thesens vei 22, Ås N-1433, Norway

A prominent role of non-classical MHC class I L lineage genes in salmon antiviral immunity

Maryam Imam1, Atefeh Kianian1, Agata Teresa Wyrozemska1, Linn Greiner-Tollersrud1, Eva-Stina Edholm*1

1Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries & Economics, Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromsø—The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway

Highlights:

47 IFN-I genes were identified in the 2021 version of the Atlantic salmon genome.

The GH1 locus of Chr3 contains 9 IFNa genes, 5 IFNb genes, 6 IFNc genes, 11 IFNe genes and 1 IFNf gene.

The GH2 locus of Chr6 contains 1 IFNa gene, 12 IFNc genes and 1 IFNf gene.

IFNc and IFNf genes showed strong expression and IFNe weak expression in organs of Atlantic salmon in response to poly I:C.

Antiviral activity was demonstrated for IFNc, IFNe and IFNf genes.

Read the paper here:

Atlantic salmon type I interferon genes revisited

Congratulations to Linn G. Tollersrud and Børre Robertsen for their paper in Fish and Shellfish Immunology.

 

 

Atlantic salmon type I interferon genes revisited

Paper highlights:

Congratulations to the authors ! 

Transcriptomics of early responses to purified Piscine orthoreovirus-1 in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) red blood cells compared to non-susceptible cell lines.

 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1359552/full

 

 

Congradulations on your big day Liv !

Liv Berntsen

“Vector design for improved DNA vaccines: Comparing three salmonid promoters to the highly active Cytomegalovirus promoter”

 Supervisors: Jorunn Jørgensen, Ole Morten Seternes and Sumaira Bilal

21ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DISEASES OF FISH AND SHELLFISH

Aberdeen, UK

Our research group member, Marwa Mechlaoui, participated in the EAPP held in Aberdeen, UK, from September 11–14. She presented part of her work and was also part of the Early Career Award recipients. 

Changes in thymus of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) after three subsequent Hydrolicer treatments. 

Marwa Mechlaoui, Bjørnar Ellingsen, Ingvill Jensen and Tore Seternes*

We are pleased to announce that collaboration between members of Vaxxinova Research & Development GmbH (Germany), including Ph.D. student Yorick van der Wal, and UiT based members of Vaccinology and Immunology Group has led to the publication of "CRISPR-Cas– induced IRF3 and MAVS knockouts in a salmonid cell line disrupt PRR signaling and affect viral replication" in the Journal of Frontiers in Immunology. 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2023.1214912/full

Ph.D. Research Fellow

 

Ph.D. Research Fellow
Project: DNA Vaccine Development for Salmon Viruses - Integrating Innate and adaptive Immunity - ImmunDNA.

Supervisors:  Eva-Stina Isabella Edholm ( Main supervisor), and  Ingvill Jensen ( 2nd supervisor). 

In this project, I will focus to Identify which cells uptake the plasmid DNA after Intramuscular Injection and present it to the Immune cells for Inducing subsequent adaptive Immunity, furthermore, another goal is to see what kind of Immune cells recruit at the Injection site after vaccination.
After finishing my graduation in Veterinary Sciences from the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), Pakistan, I moved to Taiwan to pursue my Master’s in Animal Vaccine Technology, where I worked on the development of a subunit vaccine against Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV) using flagellin as an adjuvant. Later, I worked in the Centre for Immunology and Infection Limited (C2i), Hong Kong, as a Research Associate in the team of Professor Leo Poon, a renowned virologist for about one and half years on the development of virus-like particles neuraminidase (NA) based vaccine against Influenza.

Members of the FIV research group gathered to share their findings and discuss important issues concerning the lab's procedures and rules. 

Exciting talks by the members of the FIV research group were shared at the FIV seminar 12-13th of June!

Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors!

Ingrid Udø

IFNɣ ELISpot som målemetode for cellulær immunitet i atlantisk laks (Salmo salar)  

Supervisors: Jorunn Jørgensen and Ingvill Jensen

Marte Zachariassen

IFNɣ ELISpot som målemetode for cellulær immunitet i atlantisk laks (Salmo salar)  

Supervisors: Jorunn Jørgensen and Ingvill Jensen

Jens Herman Anthun Meland

Impact of temperature-dependent developmental plasticity on immune response and cardiac health to Yersinia ruckeri infection, in Atlantic salmon parr

Supervisor: Jaya Kumari Swain

A big congratulations to you on passing your thesis defense! This is a huge accomplishment, and you should be proud of yourself.

Your hard work and dedication have paid off, and you can now officially call yourself a doctor!

Yorick Andreas Van der Wal defended his thesis titled "Atlantic salmon immune responses after infection with intracellular pathogens."

Members of FIV at the 4th International Conference of Fish and Shellfish Immunology

Exciting talks and poster presentations by the members of the FIV research group were shared at the 4th ISFSI in Bodø 2022. 

Jorunn Jørgensen: CRISPR-Cas induced IRF3 and MAVS knockouts in a salmonid cell line disrupt PRR signaling and affect viral replication.

Ingvill Jensen: The B-cell response to salmonid alphavirus 3 in Atlantic salmon. 

Maryam Imam: Regulatory responses of two non-classical major histocompatibility L-lineage complexes following SAV3 challenge and interferon stimulation in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). 

Agata T.Gondek-Wyrozemska: Diversification and conservation of non-classical MHC I genes in Salmonids provide clues to the function of potential lipid presenting MHC in fish. 

Marwa Mechlaoui: Antigen persistence and antibody responses in vaccinated Atlantic salmon (Salmo Salar L.) throughout a commercial production cycle. 

E-Poster by Atefeh Kianian: Elucidating the roles of viral patterns recognition receptors in antiviral immunity in Atlantic salmon using CRISPR7Cas9 technology

It has been a very busy time lately with Master's students and different meetings and conferences.  Now it's time to congratulate all master's students for their hard work and for achieving their master's degrees. May your future bring you all the success in the world.

Congratulations on your well-deserved success!

Bjørnar Ellingsen

Effekten av gjentatte Hydrolicer-behandlinger på atlantisk laks (Salmo salar) i en kommersiell produksjonssyklus i sjø

Hanna Fylling Ellingseter

Studiar av B-celler hos laks (Salmo salar) – blir dei aktiverte av TLRligandar?

Marie Mikkelborg

Studier av B-celler hos laks (Salmo salar) - Aktiveres de av TLR-ligander?

Mari Jahren Herud

𝜸𝜹 T-celler i atlantisk laks: Innsyn i 𝜸𝜹 T-cellers roller i antivirale responser mot Piscine Orthoreovirus (PRV) oppnådd gjennom genomiske og molekylære analyser

Ella Mortensen

Ikke-klassiske MHC klasse I L-linjegener i atlantisk laks (Salmo salar): Potensiell funksjonell rolle som tidlige antivirale varslingssignaler

Guro Aalstad Ørnhaug

Immunstatus hos fertil og steril laks under sjøfasen: En komparativ oversikt

Katarina Sævareid

The immune gene expression profile of sterile and fertile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) during smoltification and post transportation stress: A comparative overview

Two members of the group participated in the Frisk Fisk conference this year !

 

Ingvill Jensen gave an oral presentation "Antigen-specific antibody-secreting cells reside in the peritoneal cavity and systemic immune sites of Atlantic salmon challenged intraperitoneally with salmonid alphavirus" and Marwa Mechlaoui "Antigen persistence and antibody response in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) after intraperitoneal injection with a multivalent vaccine -a field study"
 

Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Project: DNA Vaccine Development for Salmon Viruses – Integrating innate and adaptive immunity (ImmunDNA)

I will focus on designing a DNA plasmid using 2A peptide as a tool so that multiple genes (several viral antigens or a combination of antigens and molecular adjuvants) can be expressed in the same plasmid and a single-injection DNA vaccine can be achieved.

In my Ph.D. from the University of Bergen, I characterized the molecular component of the adaptive immune system of Ballan wrasse, a teleost species used for the biological control of salmon lice. Originally, I am from Pakistan, and I did my master's from there. I moved to Norway in 2010 and was living in Bergen before joining the NFH at UiT this June.

Three of the group members, Eva-Stina, Maryam, and Agata, participated in the EMBO workshop on CD1/MR1. Happily, poster presentations on fish MHCs attracted some interest in the 'human-oriented crowd. 

Maryam presented poster Decoding non-classical MHC class I L-lineage transcriptional induction pathways in Atlantic salmon (salmo salar), and Agata Diversification and conservation of non-classical MHC I genes in Salmonids provides clues to the function of potential lipid presenting MHC in fish. Eva-Stina, supervisor of both projects was advocating for Atl. salmon reasearch and non-classical MHC.

On April 22nd 2022 we had a pleasure to host the 2nd Annual Fish Immunology and Vaccinoloyg Conference.

We would like to thank our keynote speakers, prof. Samuel Martin from University of Aberdeen, and Dr. Roy Dalmo from University of Tromsø. Many thanks to all participants for stimulating talks, especially to Master's students who presented great posters. It was overall a long and exciting day!

The conference could not turn out to be such a wonderfull experience without our sponsors: Kvarøy SA, Tromsø Research Foundation and the Research Council of Norway.

We are proud of the growing number of participants and are planning another edition of FIV Conference in 2023.

Hope to see you there!

Thomais is a PhD candidate supervised by Professors Maria Dahle and Jorunn Jørgensen

RED FLAG- Salmonid red blood cells as sensors of stress and infection

The RED FLAG project aims to explore and clarify the ability of salmonid nucleated pluripotent red blood cells (RBCs) to sense and respond to external stimuli, like stress and infection. The initial focus is on how the signals induced by acute/chronic stress hormones and viral infections impact red blood cell fate, regulation of gas exchange, immunological functions, and thereby fish health and survival.

2022

Let us transform every challenge into opportunity, let us convert every idea into reality, let us work hard for an inspiring positive, and scientifically successful year. Happy New Year to all FIV members and collaborators.

Please encourage your colleagues and collaborators to follow our Twitter account!
@FivUiT

You can read more about Atefeh below:

I did my master’s degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Bergen in the Mitochondrial Medicine & Neurogenetics (MMN) group working on mitochondrial biogenesis and function in glial astrocytes derived from induced pluripotent stem cells carrying POLG mutation. I am broadly interested in gene editing and fish immunology with particular emphasis on the innate immune response. My main research focus is to elucidate the roles of viral pattern recognition receptors in antiviral immunity in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) using CRISPR/Cas9 based gene editing. This includes investigating and identifying the in-depth function of innate immunity and its relevant signaling pathways against viral invaders. I do my Ph.D. under the supervision of Eva Stina Edholm and Jorunn Jørgensen as a part of the interdisciplinary project among genomics, vaccinology, and immunology partners at UiT.

We are pleased to announce that collaboration between members of Vaxxinova Research & Development GmbH (Germany), including Ph.D. student Yorick van der Wal, and UiT based members of Vaccinology and Immunology Group has led to the publication of "The importance of the Atlantic salmon peritoneal cavity B cell response: Local IgM secreting cells are predominant upon Piscirickettsia salmonis infection is" in the Journal of Developmental & Comparative Immunology. The article is now accessible online.

Congratulations to the authors!

You can read more about Antek below

As a new PhD student at the Fish Immunology and Vaccinology group I will be developing new methods in microscopy and histology to study the progression of piscine myocarditis virus. I am part of the interdisciplinary UiT project VirtualStain, which aims to develop label free microscopy methods utilizing computer vision and machine learning. I am very passionate about science, and I am eager to learn more about the research you are conducting at FIV! My supervisors at NFH are Jaya and Roy.  

After completing a bachelor’s degree in microbiology at Michigan State University I worked for several years in an immunology laboratory at the University of Michigan where we studied mycosis caused by Cryptococcus neoformans in a mouse model. While working there I developed a foundation in immunology and also got firsthand exposure to the duties of a career researcher. For my master’s thesis, written at Wageningen University, I implemented a metabolic model to optimize growth of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, a proposed vaccine chassis, through metabolic engineering and media design, with a focus on lipids. 

During my PhD I will salmon cardiomyopathy resulting from piscine myocarditis virus infection (PMCV) utilizing methods in automated, label-free microscopy. This is an exciting and rapidly developing technology which can bypass diagnostic antibodies, for instance via high throughput in-situ hybridization. Part of my duty work will involve maintaining the microscopy lab on the 3rd floor, and I look forward to training users in these techniques (once I become proficient mysefl!). 

My career aspirations are to become a researcher in fish and marine biotechnology working in academia along with partners in the aquaculture industry.  

Group members had a lot of fun during a short ski trip to Charlottenlund. Lunch with aromatic campfire coffee followed by sledging really lifted our spirits. We made sure that the social distancing rules were followed.

Huge thanks to the orginizers!

We are hoping to have more initiatives like that in the near future.

New article by Jaya Kumari Swain  et al.

Impact of a candidate vaccine on the dynamics of salmon lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis) infestation and immune response in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.)

You can read it here.

Congratulations to many of our group members on their newly released article Salmonid Alphavirus Subtype 3 Induces Prolonged Local B Cell Responses in Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) After Intraperitoneal Infection. You  may read it here.

The nomination by the students is based on her ability to communicate a difficult topic in an engaging and inspirational manner. Her teaching motivates students' discussion, while her enthusiasm and strong scientific background contribute to a healthy learning environment.

Congratulations to Jaya Kumari Swain and all collaborators on a newly released paper.

You can read it here.

Congratolations to all group members and collaborators involved in the paper!

Please find the article in question here.

MSc Shiferaw Jenberie at The Norwegian College of Fishery Science will be defending the thesis:

Atlantic salmon B cells- local and systemic responses to intraperitoneally administered salmonid alphavirus

for the degree of PhD (Philosophiae Doctor). Tavla

Time and place:                   Mar. 04, 2020 12:15 PM, Big auditorium at The Norwegian College of Fishery Science building (NFH E-101)

Trail lecture:

Role of B cells in fish vaccination

Time and place:                   Mar. 04, 2020 10:15 PM, Big auditorium at The Norwegian College of Fishery Science building (NFH E-101)

PhD Supervisors:

Ingvill Jensen, Associate Professor NFH

Jorunn Jørgensen, Professor NFH

Adjudication committee:

First opponent: Dr. Carolina Tafalla, CISA, Spain

Second opponent: Dr. Hetron Mweemba Munang'andu, NMBU

Third member and leader of the evaluation committee: Associate Professor Jaya Kumari Swain, NFH

Chair of the Defence:

Terje Martinussen, Head of Department at the The Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics

About Maryam:

I am a trained molecular biologist in infection biology. My Ph.D. thesis from the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, New Delhi, India was focused on the comparative study of structural and immunological characteristics of erythrocytic stage expressed merozoite surface protein 3, a leading vaccine candidate. My Post-Doctoral fellowship in International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) thereafter dealt with the immunological characterization of novel MPER based vaccine constructs against HIV-1. Further, I was Post-Doctoral scientist in Karolinska Institute, Sweden, where I studied host-pathogen interaction in the context of Surfin 4.2 in Plasmodium falciparum. I also did my advanced masters in Exercise Biomedicine-Human performance from Halmstad University, Sweden with a research thesis from Karolinska Institute, Sweden, in molecular characterization the effect of exercise stimulated secretory mimetics from adipocytes in type 2 diabetic subjects.

Congratulations to Arpita Nepal, Balpreet Singh Ahluwalia, Ingvill Jensen, Jorunn Jørgensen, Dimitar B.Iliev and their collaborators on a new paper:

Intracellular distribution and transcriptional regulation of Atlantic salmon(Salmo salar) Rab5c, 7a and 27a homologs by immune stimuli

Journal Club meetings are coming back in January

In January 2020 we will resume our biweekly Journal Club meetings. Presentations open for the public will be announced in the Events section and on Tavla. As usual, please await reminders about meetings from Michelle.