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ISAV/PRV Analyses Infectious
salmon anaemia virus (ISAV) is an economically important pathogen of marine-farmed
Atlantic salmon. The disease caused by ISAV, infectious salmon anaemia (ISA),
is the most feared viral disease of the marine-farmed Atlantic salmon
industry. For the past 30 years, ISA continues to cause severe economic
losses to the salmon-farming industry in an increasing number of countries. Heart
and skeletal muscle inflammation (HSMI) is an emerging disease of
marine-farmed Atlantic salmon, first recognized in 1999, and recently
associated with piscine reovirus (PRV) infection. I am a member
of a research group led by Dr. Fred Kibenge in the Atlantic Veterinary
College at UPEI since 2006. This group consists of researchers from Chile,
Brazil, British Columbia, and UPEI. The papers published by this group were
highly accessed and had great influences. I have only obtained access
statistics for three papers, they are: [37]:
accessed 17000 times. [38]:
accessed 14000 times. [39]:
accessed 6000 times. These
statistics numbers include accesses on the journal website. They do not
include accesses from PubMed Central or other archive sites. The total access
statistics are therefore likely to be significantly higher. My work
in this group is to perform data analysis and phylogenetic analysis. I have
been deeply involved in the ISAV/PRV research and I have already got familiar
with the background of the research. Performing
data analysis and phylogenetic analysis to real-world data is a challenging
task. The features of this research can be described as team work and
creative work. I tried to fully use my computer knowledge and bioinformatics
knowledge, and to creatively use bioinformatics methods and tools. I also
used manual adjustments and developed new tools when necessary. Because of
these efforts, we were able to generate high-quality alignments, to predict
divergence time in the past, and to generate reliable phylogenetic trees. Our
research results provided deeper understanding related to the mutation and
migration of ISAVs. Such results were vital in ISAV prevention and policy
making. Dr. Kibenge described my role in the research group in an interview.
He highly rated my work. Paper
[38] has been referred in Wikipedia as one source of definition for family Reoviridae. My work
in this area not only generated academic progress and papers, but also
contributed to aquatic farms. In Oct. 2008, a Chile aquatic farm, Camanchaca,
requested that we perform phylogenetic analysis to the virus samples
discovered in different locations of their farm. They were especially
interested in the relationship of the viruses found in their farm with other
major virus strains. They were willing to pay fees to Kibenge’s Lab for the
service. Since then, another two aquatic farms, Multiexport and Los
Fiordosthey, also requested similar services. I was very glad that my
research was useful in real life. |
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