Visiting Associate Professor Leanne Faulks presents research on the genome of a fungal pathogen that causes fish diseases in sweetfish and other fish at the Ecological Society of Japan.

From March 14-19, Visiting Associate Professor Leanne Faulks of the Freshwater Biological Research Institute, Nagano University, attended the 69th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Japan (held online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and presented a poster on research on the genome of a fungal pathogen that causes epizootic ulcerative syndrome, a disease first identified in sweetfish in Japan in the 1970s and now affecting hundreds of species of farmed and wild fish around the world. The goal of this study is to elucidate the spatial and temporal changes in the genetic variation of the pathogen and to understand the evolution of virulence and host specificity using genomic techniques. In the Freshwater Biology Laboratory, we are rearing sweetfish in indoor ponds and plan to conduct research on their reproduction, disease, and genetics.