MR LAURIE SMEATON

Biography

As every other paper in the field of fish farming will inform you, aquaculture represents an ever-growing and ever-more vital area of the food production sector on a global scale. From the high-value salmonids to the lower-valued carps, the importance of each area and the supporting industries cannot be overstated.

To this field, in 2014 I began a BSc in Marine Biology at the University of Stirling, following a lifelong desire to know more about the aquatic world. During my 2^nd year of studies, I then made the decision to switch to studying the internationally renowned Aquaculture course for a number of reasons - the expertise from the staff, the focused angle of production, and the humanitarian aspect relating to global food production. Following this course, I immediately followed with an MSc in Aquatic Pathobiology, following an interest in disease that has buoyed my scientific career forwards.

In 2021 I began a PhD with the University of Aberdeen in collaboration with Cefas, currently titled "Identifying host dependence factors of carp viruses: Genomic responses and cell line development", joining the Scottish Fish Immunology Research Centre under Professor Sam Martin.

My interests are primarily in disease, particularly within fish farming systems.

Research Overview

My research currently is in the field of virology, specifically:

• Host dependence factors
• Immune responses in teleosts
• Primary cell culture
• Gene editing within cell lines.

Current Research

My current PhD project is in the identification of host factors associated with Carp Edema Virus and variant Cyprinid Herpesvirus-3 infection in Cyprinus carpio, and how this can be leveraged to generate permissive cell lines.