Comparative Fish Immunology

Dr. Tony Farrell is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Zoology & Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His research had provided an understanding of fish cardiorespiratory systems and has applied this knowledge to salmon migratory passage, fish stress handling and their recovery, sustainable aquaculture and aquatic toxicology. He has over 490 research publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and an h-factor of 92. He has co-edited of 30 volumes of the Fish Physiology series, as well as an award-winning Encyclopedia of Fish Physiology. As part of his application of physiology to aquaculture, he has studied the sub-lethal impacts of sea lice and piscine orthoreovirus on the physiology of juvenile salmon. Dr. Farrell has received multiple awards, including the Fry Medal, which is the highest honour to a scientist from the Canadian Society of Zoologists, the Beverton Medal, which is the highest honour to a scientist from the Fisheries Society of the British Isles, the Award of Excellence, which is the highest honour of the American Fisheries Society and the Murray A. Newman Awards both for Research and for Conservation from the Vancouver Marine Sciences Centre. He is a former President of the Society of Experimental Biologists and a former Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Fish Biology. He served as a member of the Minister’s Aquaculture Advisory Committee on Finfish Aquaculture for British Columbia and was a member of the Federal Independent Expert Panel on Aquaculture Science. Dr. Erika Eliason is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She received her BSc from Simon Fraser University, MSc and PhD from the University of British Columbia, and held an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Sydney and Carleton University. As an ecological physiologist, Dr. Eliason uses a combination of field and lab-based studies to investigate how fish cope with anthropogenic stressors (e.g. temperature, fisheries interactions). Much of her research focuses on how climate change affects physiological performance across populations, age, body size, and sex in marine and freshwater fishes. Tackling both basic and applied questions, Dr. Eliason’s research is informing conservation policy and enhancing the management of natural resources. Dr. Eliason has served on the editorial board for ICES Journal of Marine Science, Journal of Fish Biology and Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Dr. Eliason has been a Co-Editor of the Fish Physiology series since 2020. She was awarded the Cameron Award for the Best PhD Thesis in Zoology in Canada from the Canadian Society of Zoologists, the Boutilier New Investigator Award from the Canadian Society of Zoologists, President’s Medal from the Society for Experimental Biology, and was a Hellman Fellow at UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Colin Brauner was educated in Canada at the University of British Columbia (Ph D), followed by a Post-doctoral fellowship at Aarhus University and the University of Southern Denmark, and was a Research Associate at McMaster University. He is a Professor of Zoology, UBC and Director of the UBC Aquatics Facility. He has been a Co-Editor of the Fish Physiology series since 2006. His research investigates environmental adaptations (both mechanistic and evolutionary) in relation to gas-exchange, acid-base balance and ion regulation in fish, integrating responses from the molecular, cellular and organismal level. The ultimate goal is to understand how evolutionary pressures have shaped physiological systems among vertebrates and to determine the degree to which physiological systems can adapt/acclimate to natural and anthropogenic environmental changes. This information is crucial for basic biology and understanding the diversity of biological systems, but much of his research conducted to date can also be applied to issues of aquaculture, toxicology and water quality criteria development, as well as fisheries management. His achievements have been recognized by the Society for Experimental Biology, UK (President’s medal) and the Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research (J.C. Stevenson Memorial Lecturer) and the Vancouver Marine Sciences Centre (Murray A. Newman Award for Aquatic Research). He is a former President of the Canadian Society of Zoologists.

• 1. Introduction – How Will Fish Immunology Continue to Evolve2. Adaptive Immunity Without Immunoglobulins: The VLR System of Jawless Vertebrates3. Novel Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Impact on Teleost Infection4. Zebrafish Neutrophils – Insights into Innate Immunity from a Teleost Model5. Pharyngeal Mucosal Lymphoid / Tonsils in Teleosts6. Discovery of the Origin of Germinal Centers in Fish and Their Importance for Antigen Processing and Adaptive Immunity7. Antigen Presentation and Its Evolution in Teleosts8. Microbiota–Host Immunity Interactions9. Teleost Neuroimmunology10. Modulation of Teleost Immune Function Through Behavioural Fever