Food & Nutrition Security – The Biosecurity, Health, Trade Nexus
13-14 December 2021, Canberra
Dr Andrew Barnes
Dr Andy Barnes obtained his BSc (Hons) in Microbiology from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh and his PhD from the Medical School, University of Edinburgh. Andy worked for the Scottish Office Agriculture and Fisheries Department and at the Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh before joining a small Canadian biotech company, Aqua Health Ltd, specialising in vaccines for aquaculture in 1993. In 1999, Aqua Health was bought by Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis and Andy worked in their animal health division for 4 years before beginning an academic career at The University of Queensland. Currently in the School of Biological Sciences, Andy’s research and teaching focus on animal health and welfare including vaccines, diagnostics and healthy feeds for the aquaculture industry, with pure research on immunity and infectious diseases of aquatic animals ranging from reef-building corals, through prawns and oysters, to barramundi, tilapia, stingrays, kingfish, salmon and grouper.
Diagnosis in a fish farmer’s backpack
ABSTRACT
Andrew C Barnes1, Suvra Das1, Oleksandra Silayeva1, Shaun Wilkinson2, Fernando Cagua3 and Jerome Delamare-Deboutteville3
1The University of Queensland, Australia
2Wilderlabs, New Zealand
3WorldFish Center, Malaysia
Fish underpin future nutritional security, supplying high quality protein, iron, iodine and vitamin A that are critical to childhood development and deficient in many staple foods. In 2018, 54.1 million tonnes of fish were produced by farming, generating US$138.5 billion and employing 19.3 million people directly, mostly in developing nations. With expansion and intensification, disease losses are increasing and are a priority for the FAO sub-committee on aquaculture. In most developing countries, disease mitigation comprises over-stocking to compensate, and use of readily available antibiotics. Indeed 67 different antimicrobials are used in the 11 major producing countries, contributing to the global pool of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Accurate identification of the causes and sources of infectious disease is essential for implementation of evidence-based treatment, biosecurity and prevention.
Pathogen genomics can provide sufficiently detailed information but has, to date, been too expensive and time consuming. Lab-in-a-backpack uses nanopore sequencing technology and low cost, low waste sample preparation to generate whole pathogen genome sequence data from diagnostic samples on the farm without laboratory support. Our simplified, safe, workflow includes a cloud-based identification tool that returns near real-time information about the pathogen using any laptop or smartphone. This enables evidence-based treatment, epidemiological tracing, AMR surveillance and the production of simple low-cost, locally produced “autogenous” vaccines to protect the next crop. These big-data-informed but locally implemented solutions, align well with FAOs recently proposed Progressive Management Pathway for Improving Aquaculture Biosecurity and can deliver real advances in local economy, nutritional security, antimicrobial stewardship and animal welfare.