top of page
Sunday, June 1
Monday, June 2
Tuesday, June 3
Wednesday, June 4
Please join us for Registration and our Opening Reception!
Please join us at a Garrison Brewery for an opening reception & keynote lecture.
Reception begins at 6:30 p.m.
Louis DuPasquier, University of Basel
Twenty-two years studying Pasteuria ramosa and Daphnia: Insights from comparative immunology and evolutionary biology on host-parasite dynamics
Keynote Session
Chair: Katharine Magor
9:00 - 10:00
Jim Kaufman, Yale University
A class II system strongly expressed in intestinal epithelial cells
10:00 - 10:20
Coffee Break
Immune Responses in the Real World
Chair: TBA
10:20 - 10:40
Eric H. Ignatz, Dalhousie University
Genetics vs. the environment: evaluating MSX-induced mortality with a reciprocal transplant of oysters (Crassostrea virginica) in Cape Breton
10:40 - 11:00
Louise A. Rollins-Smith, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
Season and life stage differences in skin defenses of Coqui frogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui)
11:00 - 11:20
Jacques Robert, University of Rochester
Leveraging Xenopus to assess the risks of microplastic exposure on immunity
11:20 - 11:40
Matthew Rise, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Impact of diet on Atlantic salmon immune system function
11:40 - 12:00
Shayne Oberhoffner, Wilfrid Laurier University
Enhancing innate antiviral immunity in aquaculture: ex vivo and in vitro evaluation of a novel cationic phytoglycogen nanoparticle– poly I:C complex
12:00 - 13:00
Lunch
Tools & Techniques in Aquaculture
Chair: Dan Barreda
13:00 - 13:20
Valentina Wong-Benito, University of Waterloo
Development of an antigen presentation assay using rainbow trout (Oncorhyncus mykiss) dorsal fin cells stimulated with heat-inactivated viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (vhsv) IVb
13:20 - 13:40
Laura Rivera-Méndez, University of Waterloo
Oreochromicin-2 as an alternative to antibiotics: temperature-dependent effects against Flavobacterium columnare
13:40 - 14:00
Shawna L. Semple, University of Prince Edward Island
Using Coho salmon CRISPR knockouts to identify immune gene targets for resistance to sea lice infestation.
14:00 - 14:20
Massiel de F. Copara Chino, University of Alberta
Behavioral fever as a segregation tool to improve Tenacibaculum maritimum outbreak management in aquaculture
14:20 - 14:40
Jayoon Lee, University of Alberta
Optimizing animal behaviour analysis: machine learning approach for behavioural fever in fish research
14:40 - 15:00
Coffee Break
Aquaculture: Viruses & Vaccines
Chair: Stephanie DeWitte-Orr
15:00 - 15:20
15:20 - 15:40
Janet Velazquez Perez, Wilfrid Laurier University
Developing new dsRNA therapy for viral diseases in aquaculture
Dean Porter, INRAE
Divergent B cell repertoire remodelling by mRNA, DNA and live attenuated vaccines in fish
15:40 - 16:00
Donnie Sonier, University of Waterloo
Evaluating the Immune Response of Atlantic Salmon, Salmo salar Coinfected with Viral (Piscine othoreovirus and Piscine myocarditis virus) and Parasitic Pathogens (Sea Louse - Lepeoptheirus salmonis)
16:00 - 16:20
Marianna Rampaul, Dalhousie University
Prophylactic-simulated antiviral defence of northern shrimp (Pandalus borealis) using a novel nanoparticle conjugate.
16:20 - 16:40
Coffee Break
Immune System Evolution
Chair: Jonathan Rast
16:40 - 17:00
Brooklyn Osborne, University of Alberta
Cellular interactions of Riplet and influenza NS1 in human and duck cells
17:00 - 17:20
Ian Birchler De Allende, North Carolina State University
Immunogenetic Consequences of Habitat Transitions in Marine Mammals: CD300 Evolution in Cetaceans
17:20 - 17:40
17:40 - 18:00
Yuko Ohta, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Characterization of Ancient Nonrearranging Antibodies in Shark
Ellen Hsu, SUNY Downstate
Evolution of localized regulation of V(D)J recombination
18:30
Banquet
NACI New Investigator
Chair: Brian Dixon
9:00 - 10:00
Comparative Immunological Responses of Macrophages from Diverse Species to Nanoparticle- Delivered Double-Stranded RNA
Sarah Poynter, Wilfrid Laurier University
10:00 - 10:20
Coffee Break
Cellular Immune Responses: Creatures of the sea & cockroaches
Chair: Kate Buckley
10:20 - 10:40
Tony Wilson, Brooklyn College
Exploring a unique comparative model of immune deficiency: adaptive immunity in the seahorse
10:40 - 11:00
Renald James Legaspi, University of Alberta
Cellular composition of zebrafish spleen melanomacrophage centers
11:00 - 11:20
11:20 - 11:40
Sebastian Fugmann, Chang Gung University
Immune cell diversity and cytokines in echinoderm immunity
Amelia Williams, Auburn University
A novel population of phagocytes in sea stars
11:40 - 12:00
Elizabeth Schwartz, Auburn University
Decoding hemocyte subsets and functions in the American cockroach
12:00 - 13:00
Lunch
Cellular Immune Responses: Flies, Fishes, and Frogs
Chair: Leon Grayfer
13:20 - 14:20
14:20 - 14:40
Keynote Speaker: Francesca Di Cara, Dalhousie University
TBD
Samuel Amoah, University of Alberta
Identification and qualitative assessments of putative stimulatory goldfish (Carassius auratus) leukocyte immune-type receptor calitr positive leukocytes in goldfish tissues.
14:40 - 15:00
15:00 - 15:20
Riley Crow, The George Washington University
Uncovering the hallmarks of amphian mast cell activation
Andrea Vu, University of Rochester
In vitro Xenopus tropicalis cell culture infection model for amphibian chytridiomycosis
15:20 - 15:40
Christina Garvey Griffith, The George Washington University
Amphibian (Xenopus laevis) macrophage subsets play disparate roles in skin regeneration
15:40 - 16:00
Coffee Break
Pathogens of the Sea
Chair: Fraser Clark
16:20 - 16:40
Jesús Luis Betancourt, University of Waterloo
Immunomodulatory and antibacterial effects of the pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide in white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei
16:40 - 17:00
Zohreh Fazelan, Dalhousie University
RNA-seq analysis of hepatopancreas extracted from American lobster (Homarus americanus) provides some clues regarding their resistance to Vibrio sp. (splendidus clade)
17:00 - 17:20
17:20 - 17:40
17:40 - 18:00
Mariam S. Abdulsayed, University of Waterloo
Spores of Spraguea americanus elicit oxidative burst reactions in Oncorhynchus mykiss (rainbow trout) immune cells ex vivo
Zahra Ghiasvand, Dalhousie University
Immune responses in Carcinus maenas following Vibrio sp. challenge
Jake Tatum, Auburn University
Genetic manipulation of Vibrio diazotrophicus reveals motility and secretion systems as pathogenicity factors and identifies phagocytic cell populations in purple sea urchin larvae
16:30 - 18:30
Poster Session: Standard and Wacky!
Immunology Grab Bag!
Chair: Rob Miller
9:00 - 9:20
Pierre Boudinot, INRAE
Divergent B cell repertoire remodelling by mRNA, DNA and live attenuated vaccines in fish
9:20 - 9:40
9:40 - 10:00
10:00 - 10:20
10:20 - 10:40
10:40 - 11:00
11:00 - 12:00
Stephanie J DeWitte-Orr, Wilfred Laurier University
Engineering ldsRNA with nanocarriers: unraveling cross-species antiviral mechanisms
Julie M. Old
The fight against wombat sarcoptic mange
Coffee Break
Jonathan Rast, Emory University
Single cell rna sequencing analysis of the sea lamprey adaptive immune system
J. Oriol Sunyer, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania
Protective role of secretory IgM against the deleterius effects of colitis-induced damage
Business Meeting & Wrap-up
bottom of page