Phycovax LLC

Infectious Fish Diseases Pose One of the Most Significant Threats to Aquaculture Production, Resulting in Substantial Economic Deficits. an Overwhelming Body of Evidence Supports the Utility of Vaccines in Aquaculture to Prevent Disease, Substantiating the Work Proposed Herein. This Project Proposes Investigating the Potential Use of Algae-based Feed Vaccines for Tilapia to Protect Against Piscine Francisellosis, One of the Most Important Diseases Affecting the Tilapia Industry. We Will Express Immunogenic Proteins in Diatoms and Vaccinate Tilapia by Feeding Whole Diatom Cells. in Collaboration With DR. Esteban Soto, University of California Davis, the Vaccine Efficacy Will Be Evaluated by Challenging Vaccinated Fish With the Wild-type Bacteria in Laboratory-controlled Challenges. Successful Completion of This Project Will Develop Algae-based Oral Vaccine Candidates for Mass Immunization of Fish.