Project Overview

Cornell University is situated in the heart of the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York State where a diverse array of salmonid fish call home. Unfortunately, the region has also been impacted by a series of bacterial coldwater disease (BCWD) outbreaks, severely reducing the number of fish available for recreational fishing and local aquaculture. BCWD is a potentially lethal bacterial infection of salmonid fish species caused by the pathogen Flavobacterium psychrophilum. Fish suffering from BCWD develop skin lesions that effectively renders the fish inedible and unviable. The disease is not only found in Upstate New York, but also has been cited in other fish farms and hatcheries where fish are raised in close quarters. In fact, other American fish farms have reported instances in which over over 30-45% of trout raised have been lost due to BCWD [1]. The grave economic and agricultural consequences of BCWD are unresolved by current means of treatment consisting of antibiotics. This year, Cornell iGEM has developed fishPHARM: a comprehensive prevention and treatment plan that uses the tools of synthetic biology to combat BCWD.

Since the etiology of BCWD is characterized by intra-organismal microbial proliferation our treatment protocol seeks to reduce microbial loads within the infected fish through the use of a peptide called Entericidin B. Recent studies have shown the peptide to be toxic to the growth of F. psychrophilum, thereby providing a potential treatment to BCWD[2]. Hundreds of bacterial entericidin phenotypes exist naturally. This year, Cornell iGEM has engineered over 20 strains of Escherichia coli for the regulated production of such peptides to test their efficacy against the growth of F. psychrophilum. In doing so, we plan to develop the most effective probiotic treatment for BCWD and advance the study of therapeutic probiotic treatments in combatting similar diseases.

In addition, the team plans to engineer a novel fish drug delivery system to safely administer our probiotic treatment without environmental harm. We have developed a working prototype of a fish tag that can safely latch onto the skin of a fish and demonstrate the secure and time-effective release of our peptide to treat BCWD in an infected fish. Our fish tag aligns with current practices of fish tagging in the aquaculture industry today, and has immediate potential to be implemented on both a local and global scale. We have shared the device with local hatcheries and fish farms to both garner feedback to improve prototype designs as well as help local farmers combat coldwater disease.

Success of this putative microbial control system holds important ramifications for human and animal health, as similar treatment methods could be devised for bacterial infections among humans. Prevention of BCWD will help provide a more secure, sustainable future in the fish industry and beyond to aid growing population necessary to sustain the continued increase of the human population.

Project Background

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