Cornell iGEM

Dry Lab Overview

fishPHARM’s mechanical engineering work centers around two main principles: 1) the real-world implementation of a peptide treatment for bacterial coldwater disease (BCWD), and 2) the prevention of bacterial coldwater disease outbreaks on fish farms. To address these goals, fishPHARM has developed engineering solutions for the individualized delivery of flavocide, our bioengineered peptide treatment for BCWD, as well as a fish farm tank monitoring system for the constant monitoring of aquaculture conditions.

fishPHARM presents fishBIT, a novel means of delivering time-released flavocide gel to each fish individually. Inspired by fish tags, devices used to track fish in the wild, fishBIT allows fish farmers to target specific fish for flavocide treatment. Farmers can choose to apply the fishBIT system to a few affected fish, or to their whole farms. Each delivery device can store enough flavocide to treat one fish for the prescribed dosing period, as well as be easily re-dosed, making it an effective means of treating multiple and recurring infections. The device operates through passive diffusion of flavocide suspended in a medical hydrogel. FishBIT is safe for the fish, and is constructed using materials which are all approved by the FDA. Testing of the fishBIT system in a hydraulic flow channel has shown that fishBIT can resist normal fish motion and speeds.

FishPHARM presents the Heimdall Monitoring System (HMS). Named after the Norse god of surveillance, the HMS consists of sensor hardware to be installed within aquaculture tanks, as well as a mobile app for the continuous monitoring and collection of temperature, flow rate, dissolved oxygen concentration, and nitrogen concentration. These factors are important in the health of a fish hatchery, and if improperly maintained, will lead to infections and higher mortality rates. Current methods of monitoring these factors are inefficient and not as reactive to changes in conditions. The HMS is still in its development phase. A first prototype of the hardware is in the process of being built, and the mobile app is ready for testing.

Future work will be done at fishPHARM to improve the design and manufacturing of fishBIT for mass production. Additional testing will be conducted as we plan to apply for FDA approval of the device. The HMS will be prototyped extensively to develop a more efficient design, and its mobile app will continue to be streamlined.

Components

The fishBIT system combines the simplicity of standard fish tags with the novelty of a synthetic biology treatment.

The plastic harpoon region is designed to ensure that the tag remains in its host under most forces. Its center has been hollowed out to allow contact between the host interior and our synthetic biology treatment. Moreover, this plastic is an FDA-approved biocompatible material to minimize risks to the host.

The silicone-based biocompatible tubing houses the treatment gel. It also serves as a marker to determine how much gel has dissolved.

The bright red gel consists of the entericidin protein contained in FDA-approved poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid). This copolymer dissolves readily in most fluids, and its properties can be easily altered. Furthermore, both the protein and the gel are both environmentally safe; the peptide is ubiquitous and the gel degrades easily.

Our tag applicator is designed to be used just like conventional applicators, but with added comfort and easier handling.

fishPHARM is currently working on an alternative, more efficient applicator that is inspired by firearm trigger mechanisms.

Each fishBIT starter kits comes with 20 fishBIT tags, a tag applicator, a vial containing our novel flavocide, a needle, a syringe, and an information booklet.

See animations of our components here.

Fabrication & Assembly

The fish tag was 3D printed instead of manually fabricated for increased prototype precision. The Freeform Pico 3D printer from Asiga was used to print the fish tag for its high resolution printing abilities. The fish tag applicator, however, was machined in Cornell's Emerson Lab machine shop out of aluminum. A tube with an inner diameter of 1/16" and outer diameter of 1/8" was attached to the back of the fish tag to hold the hydrogel. A syringe was used to insert the hydrogel into the tube, and a clamp was placed at the end to prevent hydrogel escape. The fish tags and applicators, along with the peptide hydrogel, was packaged into a starter kit for distribution to fish farmers.

Testing

Safety

Animal and environmental safety guided the fishBIT and flavocide hydrogel design and development. Industry standards for salmon were used to develop the size and shape of the fish tag [1]. Cornell iGEM’s main goal was creating an efficient and localized drug delivery system that, unlike with current antibiotic treatments, does not have significant drug escape into the environment. FDA-approved, biocompatible, and environmentally safe PLGA polymer was used to create the peptide hydrogel [2].

Future Work

FishBIT is a novel solution to drug delivery in fish. While it is a great method of delivering flavocide to sick fish, we at fishPHARM believe in always challenging ourselves to find new and better solutions. While working on a formula and dosing for Flavocide is our number one priority, we will also be exploring new ways of delivering the time-released medication to affected fish. One possible future method of delivering Flavocide would be a pneumatic injection system, which injects individual capsules in fish for rapid and accurate delivery. This system would make treating fish a much less time-consuming process, and would increase the appeal of the fishPHARM BCWD treatment method.