The study and utilization of Danio rerio (Zebrafish) as a model organism has increased greatly in recent decades. They are used in many areas of biological research, but one field that has used them extensively is immunology. Since zebrafish have been found to possess many orthologs to human genes, study...
Utilization of zebrafish, Danio rerio, has steadily increased and its applications have expanded into numerous fields of science. Applying elevated temperatures (32°C to 37°C) to this organism has allowed researchers to conduct climate change, human cancer and infectious disease studies. Though zebrafish can be acclimated from the standard 28°C to...
Once abundant in their native range, Pacific salmon species (Oncorhynchus spp.) were widely distributed across the northern Pacific Rim from South Korea and Japan to the Sacramento River in California. Remaining populations are subject to population-level threats, including pathogens. The freshwater parasitic copepod Salmincola californiensis is associated with the reduced...
Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), a member of the receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) family, is frequently dysregulated in a variety of cancers. Overexpression of the receptor leads to increased cell proliferation and resistance to cell death due to downstream signaling effects. Proteasomal degradation of HER2 results in the...
The microsporidian parasite, Pseudoloma neurophilia, is the most commonly diagnosed infectious disease in laboratory populations of the zebrafish, Danio rerio. Infections by P. neurophilia are generally subclinical, however, they can become acute either incidentally or due to experimental immune suppression. Non-protocol induced variation can confound results in laboratory experiments using...
Oregon dogs are susceptible to heartworm, Dirofilaria immitis, a parasitic roundworm. D. immitis infects the cardiopulmonary system and reproduce within the animal, growing up to 30 cm. Dirofilaria repens is a filarial nematode that infects dogs, cats, wolves, coyotes, sea lions, and muskrats. It is also spread by mosquitos and...
M. abscessus subsp. abscessus is a nontuberculous mycobacterium causing pulmonary infections in immunocompromised patients. The treatment of MAB infections is challenging due to its natural resistance to most antibiotics. To identify MAB genetic factors that are involved in mechanisms of the antibiotic tolerance, we screened the library of 2,000 gene...
As the zebrafish (Danio rerio) becomes increasingly popular as a biomedical model for various laboratory studies, the need for efficient and accurate diagnostic assays for the pathogens that infect it has grown. The most common pathogen infecting laboratory zebrafish is Pseudoloma neurophilia, a microsporidium that has been known to cause...
Pre-spawning mortality (PSM) presents a major problem for population recovery of spring Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Willamette River basin. In certain reaches and years, PSM has exceeded 90%. Histology has been used as the primary diagnostic method to investigate PSM in the Chinook Salmon, and a collection of...
The Pacific Walrus population that lives within the Chukchi Sea near Alaska and the Russian territory Siberia have traditionally held a diet composed of molluscs and benthic invertebrates, with the main dietary choice being clams or other bivalves. Due to global warming, the availability of stable ice resting surfaces has...