Objectives

• Create a new knowledge platform in comparative immunology
• Functionally characterize the codfish immune system by single cell transcriptomics 
• Address the importance of MHC I cross presentation and innate signalling pathways
• Investigate immune variation at the population level of selected fish species
• Develop gene modification tools and antibodies for codfish and other species 
• Address how the lack of CD4+ T cells in codfish has implications for treatment of immune diseases
• Create transdisciplinary interactions between the traditional life sciences and social scientists  

Summary 

We have shown that Atlantic cod and codfishes lacks the immune pathway that is central to autoimmune diseases, fighting bacterial infections and is the way that HIV viruses use to infect humans. It remains a to be understood how codfishes – without this central immune pathway – are able to efficiently fight diseases.

Compared with human and mammalian immunology the fish counterpart is still in its infancy – particularly with respect to established experimental tools, model systems and general understanding. However, solving the codfish immune puzzle is likely to have vast implications not only for fish vaccinology but also for successful immunotherapy in cancer, autoimmune diseases and transplantation medicine.

In the proposed Convergence Environment, a leading group in human immunology at CIR has teamed up with biologists at CEES and Dept. of Biosciences to address the codfish immune puzzle. A combination of comparative genomics, single cell transcriptomics, cell biology, advanced microscopy and experimental approaches will be used to unravel codfish as a natural immune knockout system.

This multi-disciplinary approach will provide results applicable to vaccine development for new aquaculture species as well as having implications in medical treatment of infectious and autoimmune diseases. The project will rely on large data sets requiring and computational approaches. Thus, as part of the consortium we have included strong environments statistics and bioinformatics. Further, project has a substantial Responsible Research and Innovation component.

The results will affect future aquaculture, human medicine as well as providing a social sciences case for our awareness of the future possibilities of gene modifications of fish and humans.