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Comparative immunology: The unusual adaptive immune system of Atlantic cod

Vaccination of humans and other animals induce the immune system to produce protective antibodies and memory cells. The adaptive immune system responsible for this response is more than 500 million years old and conserved from sharks to humans. High-affinity antibodies require that B cells (which become the antibody factories) get help from T cells, via a direct interaction between surface receptors on the two cell types. In Atlantic cod, these surface receptors have been lost! However, codfish can still mount protective memory, but we do not know how this occurs. A rare human disorder, where the same surface receptors are lost, is lethal unless patients receive a bone-marrow transplant at a young age (the bone marrow will essentially give the patient a new immune system).

In the experimental comparative immunology group, we are trying to understand how the unusual adaptive immune system of cod works. We think it is of fundamental interest to understand how Atlantic cod can become immune. This could also make us be able to make better vaccines for codfish, an emerging species in aquaculture. We keep cod for experiments in NIVA research facility near Dr?bak, but we do most experiments and analysis at Rikshospitalet (OUH) or in the Biology Building.

Projects

  • What are biological correlates for protective vaccines?
  • What are immune responses to pathogens and model antigens in cod?
  • What is the antigen receptor diversity in cod and does this change upon immunization?
  • Do cod reject tissue transplants like other animals?
  • Ontogeny of immune organs

Technologies

  • Single cell transcriptomics – bioinformatics
  • Histology and pathology
  • Molecular and cell biology (isolation of cells and RNA, gene expression analysis, PCR etc.)
  • Generation of tools and assays for research on cod (making monoclonal antibodies, ELISA, Flow etc.)

The student’s responsibilities

  • We expect that the student will participate in the regular project meetings, read up on relevant literature, and present your project at internal meetings.

Contact

Publisert 20. sep. 2021 08:41 - Sist endret 20. sep. 2021 08:41

Veileder(e)

Omfang (studiepoeng)

60