Prosjektleder hos HI: Ole Torrissen Prosjektleder hos IHA - Cigene: Sigbjørn Lien
A robust and sustainable solution to control lice infection of farmed salmonids is required. Three tasks are necessary to meet this requirement: Task 1: To monitor the situation in order to enable governmental management to act according to the actual situation. Task 2: To develop tools that will facilitate more detailed and thorough monitoring. Task 3: To develop new treatments and farming regimes that will bring the situation under control. The PrevenT platform is structured to address the above tasks. The platform will address the three tasks through 4 work packages (WPs).
Task 1 will be mainly addressed by WP 1 - Epidemiology. In WP 1 reported data on salmon lice abundances, salmon abundances and delousing will be used to generate models that will estimate abundances of different functional stages of salmon lice in close to real time. These models will enable management decision makers to identify areas with problems, avoid locating farms to areas with increased infection risks and manage resistance outbreaks rationally. Task 2 will mostly be completed through WP 2 - Genetic markers and WP 3 - Mechanisms of drug resistance development. In WP 3 a single-dose resistance bioassays for field use will be developed and evaluated. Furthermore laboratory-based diagnostic tools will be established if possible, a process that may greatly benefit from the results from WP 2. The data that can be obtained by the tools generated in WP 3 can be used to detect resistance at an early stage and model dispersal of resistance and will provide important data for management decision makers. Task 3 will be addressed by WP 4 - Vaccine development. In WP 4 the functional biology of the salmon louse intestine will be studied since the gut is the part of the salmon louse that is in most intimate contact with salmon immune factors. The objective will be to identify intestinal "Achilles heels" targetable by vaccines or other treatment strategies.
