Rapid, Simple Diagnostic for Pathogens in Marine Aquaculture

Aquaculture is the farming of aquatic organisms for human consumption, and includes finfish, shellfish, crustaceans and plants. Aquaculture accounts for approximately 50% of the world’s fish food and is one of the fastest growing food-producing sectors. A major challenge facing commercial fisheries is the presence of infectious diseases. Once a disease outbreak occurs, effective management requires three basic approaches: (1) identification of the problem, (2) diagnosis of the pathogen and (3) corrective management. All must be performed quickly to avoid disease spread and further loss. Lynntech is developing a rapid, user-friendly, detection assay to identify, distinguish, and quantify pathogens that infect aquaculture waters. This will be a multiplex assay that will detect six different aquaculture pathogens. Our diagnostic combines molecular genetic methods with a power-free, semiquantitative technology for detection. Due to low power requirements, Lynntech’s Aquaculture Diagnostic will be ideal for field-use at aquaculture facilities. Our proposed diagnostic system will also include an innovative technology that will concentrate aquaculture water, eliminating the need to enrich pathogen concentrations, which can be exceptionally time-consuming and costly.