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Dr Dwight Causey

PhD Project: Growth and immune system cross-talk in fish: a proteomics approach (2014-2018)

Viva date: Dec 10th 2018

 

Collaborators:

Prof. Sam Martin (co-supervisor, School of Biological Sciences)

Dr Robert Devlin (Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canada)

Dr David Stead (Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen: mass-spec/proteomics expert)

Postgraduate research

 

My PhD was funded by the University of Aberdeen, with support from the University’s Development Trust. My research aimed to understand molecular level cross-talk between the immune and growth systems of salmonid fish. The Macqueen lab, in collaboration with Dr Bob Devlin’s group in Canada, is using transgenic salmon overexpressing growth hormone (GH) to study these physiological interactions, focusing on skeletal muscle, a key energy store that is routinely remobilized for resource reallocation. To measure proteomic changes, my project used a state-of-the-art Q-Exactive Orbitrap mass spectrometer for label-free analysis. This technology allowed us to measure hundreds-to-thousands of proteins from one sample and gives a high-quality snap-shot of the organism’s molecular status. 

Publications while in Macqueen lab

Causey DR, Potz M, Stead DA, Secombes CJ, Macqueen DJ. 2018. High-throughput proteomic expression profiling of the fish liver response to bacterial challenge. BMC Genomics. 19: 719

Causey DR, Kim JH, Stead DA, Devlin RH, Martin SAM, Macqueen DJ. 2018. Proteomic comparison of selective breeding and growth hormone transgenesis in fish: Unique pathways to enhanced growth J. Proteomics. pii: S1874-3919(18)30325-7

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