Academia & Industry Forum: Emerging PKD threatening salmonids

A joint academia-industry led forum to set priorities for PKD management

The workshop brings academia and industry representatives together to discuss the latest research developments in proliferative kidney disease (PKD). The forum will cover current European and American aquaculture industry and wild fisheries perspectives and the latest research and applications to disease management strategies.

Key Topics:

· Disease Monitoring & Genomic Insights – Understanding approaches to disease monitoring and genetic variation in European and American fish populations.

· Climate Change & Disease Dynamics – Examining its role in PKD emergence and spread.

· Vaccine Development Progress – Exploring breakthroughs in immunisation efforts.

· Virulence & Immune Evasion Mechanisms – Unveiling pathogen-host interactions.

Invited speakers will showcase the latest developments in PKD research. To be followed by a roundtable discussions o set research priorities and identify upcoming funding initiatives to spearhead future collaborative projects.

Key Aims of the Workshop:

1) Understand current perspectives on PKD occurrence, economic and fish health impacts in wild and farmed salmonid populations

2) Frame R&D priorities from industry and wild fisheries perspectives

3) Provide an overview of current PKD research progress including.

a. Disease monitoring & parasite genomics

b. Climate change & disease dynamics

c. Parasite virulence & immune evasion

d. Vaccine development progress

4) Discuss research priorities and identify upcoming funding streams.

Speaker(s)	Activity / Talk	Duration
British Trout Association (Oliver Robinson) and Sustainable Aquaculture and Innovation Centre (Lynsey Muir)	Welcome and introducing session facilitator, Dr Hamish Rodger (PatoGen UK) PKD occurrence, impacts, and research priorities (UK farmers perspective)	12 min
Andre Van (Kames Fish Farming Ltd, Scotland)	Industry challenges- Perspectives from UK and US standpoint	10 min
Heike Schmidt-Posthaus (University of Bern, Switzerland)	Framing current impacts of PKD on wild fish populations in Europe: Research priorities to help improve wild fisheries management.	10 min
Hanna Hartikainen (University of Nottingham) & HeikeSchmidt- Posthaus	Environmental DNA monitoring across the PKD parasite life cycle	10 min
Stephen Atkinson & Sascha Hallet (Oregon State University, USA)	Disease dynamics and parasite transmission in North American hosts	10 min
Jason Holland (University of Aberdeen) & Astrid Holzer (University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna. Austria)	New developments in understanding fish-parasite interactions: links to antigen discovery and development of vaccine and diagnostic approaches	10 min

Panel Discussion and Q&A (25 min)

(Hamish Rodger, Oliver Robinson, Andre Van, and Jason Holland)

Points for discussion:

1) R&D priorities: Key knowledge gaps in parasite biology, optimal approaches for antigen discovery to

vaccine development and parasite / disease monitoring for wild and farmed fish

2) Economic considerations: Markets, feasibility, cost vs benefit, Europe / US appetite for disease

mitigation

3) Policy constraints in use of disease mitigation for farmed and wild fish populations

4) Identifying UK / Europe / US funding streams and upcoming calls

Workshop close (BTA; Oliver Robinson; Lynsey Muir) 3 min

Organizers:	Oliver Robinson (British Trout Association) Janina Costa (Sustainable Aquaculture Innovation Centre) Andre Van (Kames Fish Farming Ltd) Hanna Hartikainen (University of Nottingham) Jason Holland (University of Aberdeen)
Date and time:	Tuesday September 2, 2025, 10:15-11:45
Location:	Room MINOAS
Contact:	janina@sustainableaquaculture.com