May 2018 – Medaid Mediterranean Aquaculture Integrated Development

In the Spotlight: Anna TOFFAN

28th May 201828th May 2018Diego LozanoLeave a comment

i) What is your contribution to the MedAID project?
WP4 (Health management, diseases and fish welfare), in which I participate as a partner, aims at strengthening the diagnostic capacity of laboratories by standardizing diagnostic protocols and (Standard Operating Procedures) SOPs and by organizing Proficiency Tests (PTs). Since I am the Responsible of the OIE Reference laboratory for viral encephalopathy and retinopathy disease (VER), which is located in my laboratory at the IZSVE, I have been asked to lead the activities targeting this important marine pathogen. Continue reading

In the Spotlight: Snježana ZRNČIĆ

17th May 201825th May 2018Diego LozanoLeave a comment

i) What is your contribution to the MedAID project?
In MedAID, I am working on Work-package 4 (Health management and diseases and fish welfare). In this work package we aim at providing tools and common strategies for prevention and diagnosis of major diseases, by creating an operative and collaborative platform. Within this work package, I participate as a partner in Task 1. Improve disease management based on risk assessment tools for new and emerging pathogens. Besides, I am a leader of the Task 2. Improve communication and harmonization on diagnostic competences, which has as objective to study the most important diseases of sea bass and sea bream and the most accurate, specific and sensitive procedure of diagnostics. The diagnostic procedures have to be standardized by interlaboratory testing and finally described in Manual of harmonized Continue reading

Role of epigenetics in fish and the involvement of early rearing temperature

14th May 201825th May 2018Diego LozanoLeave a comment

The term “Epigenetics” was first introduced by Conrad H. Waddington (1905–1975) in 1942 [1] to describe events that were found not to be congruent with the genetic principles. Today, epigenetic changes concern changes in the structure of DNA resulting from DNA modifications. Contrary to DNA mutations, epigenetic changes are reversible and occur fast.

Apart from the programmed epigenetic regulation that ensures cell differentiation, epigenetic regulation can be influenced by the environment, emphasizing the importance to investigate in depth epigenetic mechanisms (Fig.1). Especially in terms of climate change, which results in changes of temperature, acidity, and salinity in the marine milieu, epigenetics may shed light on the mechanism of phenotypic response triggered by environmental signals.Continue reading