Immunomodulators in Aquaculture and Fish Health

Preetham Elumalai, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Marine Biology, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala, India. He earned a Master's degree from the University of Madras and a PhD in biochemistry and molecular immunology from the Institute for Immunology, University of Regensburg, Germany. His research practice includes bioassay-guided identification of novel marine compounds, unveiling fish lectins in innate immune defense, aquatic vaccine development, evaluation of cost-effective feed additives and nutrigenomics, and effects of environmental pollutants on marine ecosystems. He has been a partner in numerous EU-, Indian-,and UK-funded projects (e.g., IVVN, BactiVac). He has written more than 70 peer-reviewed articles and has 2 patents in his name apart from editing 5 books (Springer, CRC Press) and has presented his work at more than 60 national and international conferences. He has been awarded the prestigious INSA fellowship (2018); MASTS, Fellowship (2019); IVVN award, UK (2020); FRSB award (2021); and BactiVac award, UK (2022).

Mehdi Soltani, PhD, is a distinguished professor at university of Tehran and an adjunct professor at Murdoch University, Australia. He earned a DVM from university of Tehran and PhD in aquatic animal health from university of Tasmania, Australia. Professor Soltani has an international reputation for research on aquatic animal health, with 290 published scientific papers, collaborations with researchers throughout the world and editorship of scientific journals in fisheries and veterinary science. He chaired government advisory committees in fisheries and aquaculture and have also worked closely with the aquaculture industry. He developed and patented a number of fish vaccines, which are registered throughout the Middle East. He also taught numerous undergraduate courses and supervised many higher degree students. His research interests include vaccine development for fish pathogens, immunopathogenesis of infectious agents in fish/shellfish and development of alternative therapies such as immunostimulants, probiotics and phytobiotics for disease control in farmed fish and shellfish.

Sreeja Lakshmi, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in collaboration with Moredun Research Institute (MRI), UK. She graduated from Calicut University and earned a PhD in biochemistry and functional genomics from the Institute for Molecular Biology, University of Regensburg, Germany. She has published research articles in peer-reviewed international journals and authored books and book chapters. She has been awarded prestigious research grants from the Bavarian Research Foundation (Bayerische Forschungsstiftung), Government of Bavaria, Germany; an HRD-Fellowship for Women Scientists from the Department of Health Research, Government of India; and a MASTS (Marine Alliance Science and Technology, Scotland) Award for Postdoctoral and Early Career Research Exchanges (PECRE), visited the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, and received IVVN Fellowship grant from the International Veterinary Vaccinology Network (IVVN), UK.