The aquaculture industry is growing at a rapid rate, but our understanding of the factors that contribute to fish ‘performance’ – that is, how to ensure optimal health and growth – is not keeping pace. Rather than conduct costly field experiments, researchers at the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine are taking a different approach. Join us as we speak to Dr Martin Llewellyn and PhD candidate Raminta Kazlauskaite about their project SalmoSim, in which they have developed an artificial salmon gut. While it sounds like something out of Franken-fish, they see this system being used for a range of applications, from studying drug stability, to the effects of pre- and pro-biotics on the microbiome, to antimicrobial resistance transfer, and ultimately to differences in fish performance through the use of different feeds. Tune in to find out more!
The SalmoSim artificial salmon gut experimental setup. Photo: Raminta Kazlauskaite
Don’t forget you can subscribe to automatically receive all our latest content, or just our podcasts. We are also available on iTunes and other podcast catchers.
This podcast was produced by Lydia Bach and Taya Forde.
Feature image: Original artwork courtesy of PhD researcher Eleni Christoforou, 2019©
Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]