The Gill Health International Conference is the place where academia, industry, technology and research laboratories come together to discuss gill health in salmon. Its purpose is to discuss the results and solutions, and to share knowledge and new practices that are generated in the country regarding the management of the most prevalent and important gill pathology in Atlantic salmon in Chile. This is known as Proliferative Gill Disease (PGD) and has been present in our territory since 2012.
In this context, the researcher from the Center for Aquaculture Biotechnology (CBA), Dr. Felipe Reyes López, participated with the conference “Biomarkers related to the containment of tissue damage caused by PGD in Atlantic salmon in Chile,” during which he explained the analyses and strategies used for the study of the disease that affects salmon.
“Although there is still a long way to go before a solution is found to contain PGD, we currently have a promising set of candidates involved in specific biological processes that are associated with tissue repair of the gill filaments affected by this pathology,” the researcher said about the progress of his research during his lecture.
With regard to the contribution of the University of Santiago in the search for solutions, Dr. Reyes highlighted the “excellent reception of the industries involved in the area of aquaculture of our associative research carried out in the field, that is, in the fish farms themselves where the problem is detected.”
“We are very pleased with the future projection of our presentation among the participants, including staff from the salmon industry, research laboratories, diagnostic, technology and food processing companies,” added the specialist, highlighting the collaborative work carried out by the Center for Aquaculture Biotechnology, where he hopes to continue making progress in generating ‘a cross-cutting solution to the wide range of phenotypic responses observed on fish farms.’
The Gill Health International Conference 2024 is an international initiative that brings together industry and researchers from salmonid producing countries such as Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Australia and Chile. The event was attended by organizations such as Salmofood, SalmoClinic, Oxzo, Hidrolab and Tekbios Fish Trial Center, as well as the Association of Veterinary Doctors linked to Aquaculture (Mevea Chile), the Aquaculture Innovation Club of Chile, Smok & Rojas Lab and CodeBreaker BioScience.