Shellfish Health Research

Principal Investigator - Prof. Sarah Culloty

Research into shellfish health and disease has been taking place in the AFDC since the 1980s.  A range of pathogens are studied - viruses, bacteria, protozoa and macroparasites.  Work has been carried out on a range of bivalve species including oysters, clams, mussels, cockles and abalone.  Some of the diseases that are being studied include bonamiosis in the native oyster Ostrea edulis, summer mortality syndrome in Pacific oysters Crassostrea gigas, Brown ring disease in Manila clams Ruditapes philippinarum, herpes like virus in Pacific oysters and cockle sarcomas. Work focuses on a range of aspects of heath and disease including epidemiology, pathology, pathogen life cycles, host response (i.e. physiology/immunology) and mechanisms to reduce the impact of disease including the development of resistant stock and diagnostics.