A new marine immunology Centre will be unveiled at the University of Aberdeen today (Wednesday, June 11). Principal C Duncan Rice, along with other senior academics and a leading industry expert will officially launch the Centre, which aims to strengthen and promote internationally recognised research in fish immunology in Scotland.
The Centre will focus predominantly on bringing the techniques for studying fish immunology more in line with the advanced knowledge of human immunology.
Distinguished guests from the aquaculture industry have been invited to learn more about the services on offer at the Centre and visit the research facilities, which will service the research community and the aquaculture industry. The proceedings will begin at 12 noon.
The new state-of-the-art Centre brings together expertise from the Universities of Aberdeen and Stirling and the FRS Marine Laboratory at Aberdeen, to address fundamental and applied issues relating to fish health. The Centre has been funded by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC), which provided funding of £830,000.
Professor Secombes, Head of the new Centre, from the University of Aberdeen, said that the present understanding of fish immunology is very poor in comparison to that of immunology in humans, so that it is difficult to investigate fish disease and to develop vaccines.
"Fish, especially farmed fish such as salmon, can be dramatically affected by diseases and this has significant consequences for employment in the aquaculture and fishing industries," he said.
"This new Centre will allow us to bring the techniques for studying fish immunology more in line with the advanced knowledge of human immunology."
Professor C Duncan Rice, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, University of Aberdeen, said: "I am very pleased to be opening this Centre officially. The Scottish Executive has recognised the importance of fundamental work that will underpin the study of animal diseases.
"We all recognise now the disasters that can befall the agriculture and fishing industries through disease. This Centre is especially important to the University of Aberdeen which has a commitment to using the most advanced technologies to support rural economies."
Patrick Smith, Director for Global Research and Business Development, Schering-Plough Aquaculture, who delivered a speech during the opening ceremony, said: "The pioneering work done in Scotland and in this City on the development of fish vaccines deserves the award of having a state-of-the-art fish immunology laboratory and I hope that this particular laboratory will help Scotland and Aberdeen remain in the forefront of both basic fish immunology and fish vaccinology."
At the Centre, current research and development programmes range from immune gene discovery to fish vaccine development, with multi-site validation of results a key strength.