GILLMODEL – New project on the development of an in vitro model to study environmental factors influencing gill epithelial function receives funding from the Research Council of Norway

Gill disease in farmed Atlantic salmon is a significant problem. Poor gill health, often caused by infectious agents or bad water quality (or a combination of these) severely compromises animal welfare and growth. With the increasing focus on recirculation aquaculture systems (RAS) and more intensive production, new challenges related to the epithelial function of the gill are expected.

The primary objective of the project is to establish an in vitro gill epithelial model for Atlantic salmon as a bioassay to predict harmful environmental and infective challenges and as a tool to study cellular mechanisms and transepithelial transport. Through this, we aim to reduce the number of salmon used in experimental trials for the study of gill health. We will use the salmon epithelial gill cell line ASG10, which has been developed by the project group.

The project has received funding from the Research Council of Norway, HAVBRUK 2 programme on fish health – methods to replace, reduce and refine the use of fish in research (3R). It will start in August 2019 and run for two years (budget 4 mill. NOK). It is a collaboration between the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, the University of Fraser Valley (Canada), Nord University (Norway), Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (Irland) and the University of Tasmania (Australia).

Contact Anita Solhaug for more information.