Stopping the spread of marine diseases

Global economic losses caused by infectious diseases in fisheries and aquaculture currently exceed $6 billion per year. Dr Jean-Baptiste Raina, a marine microbial ecologist in UTS Climate Change Cluster, has been awarded a new Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship to understand the behaviours used by marine pathogens to infect their host.

“From years of research, we know that many human and plant pathogens infect their hosts using specific behaviours, they can use specific chemical cues to sense the presence of their host or to spread in the environment. But for most marine pathogens, the details of how this works has gone largely unexplored,” Dr Raina says.

“My research will aim at filling some of these gaps in our knowledge by identifying the chemicals underpinning pathogens’ behaviours, using a unique scientific approach combining microfluidics, high-resolution imaging, analytical chemistry and oceanography.”

Continue reading on UTS Newsroom: Stopping the spread of marine diseases