Location: Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Research
Project Number: 5030-32000-229-093-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2023
End Date: Dec 31, 2024
Objective:
1. Continue the development of immune assays for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins
2. Develop antibodies to cell-surface molecules expressed on immune cells
3. Utilize reagents to establish cytokine, metabolomic, and proteomic profiles for etiologic agents of disease in bottlenose dolphins, including fungal, bacterial, and viral pathogens
• develop a predictive diagnostic model for infectious and non-infectious diseases in bottlenose dolphins.
Approach:
We will continue to test antibodies raised against human, bovine and porcine immune molecules for cross-reactivity with Atlantic bottlenose dolphin tissue samples. This has proven to be a low-risk method of identifying antibodies that can be used in immunoassays. We will continue to develop new primers sets for measuring messenger RNA levels of dolphin cytokines. New immune reagent development will continue. we will express recombinant cytokines in a yeast expression system and then generate polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to these cytokines., we will screen and/or produce monoclonal antibodies to specific cell surface molecules. The ultimate goal will be to produce and characterize monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies for use in several bottlenose dolphin-specific immune assays, including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, immunohistochemical assays and flow cytometry.
