Immunological Approaches to Understanding QPX Diseases
QPX is an emerging disease affecting cultured Mercenaria mercenaria from Atlantic Canada to Virginia. It is a concern to the Maryland hard clam fishery. Since host defenses control susceptibility and progression of infectious disease, knowledge of the clam's immune response to QPX will be important to understanding and managing this disease. A suite of quantitative immunoassays will be carried out in order to understand the basis of the clams' susceptibility to this protistan parasite. Parameters of host defense such as pathogen recognition, inhibition of replication, and killing of QPX organisms by circulating blood cells and serum molecules will be measured.
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Robert S. Anderson
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
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