Program overview and mission

The Aquatic Pathobiology Center (APC) research program focuses on environmental pathology, toxicology and husbandry of aquatic and marine organisms with emphasis on Chesapeake Bay fauna and captive fish species. These emphases reflect the research interests and expertise of the APC faculty and its collaborators, and address Maryland's most valuable aquatic resource, the Chesapeake Bay. Currently supported projects at the APC include studies on effects of harmful algal bloom exposure, cancer in Chesapeake Bay killifish, and mycobacteriosis (tuberculosis-like disease) in Chesapeake Bay striped bass. APC research projects focus on effects of contaminant and water quality stress using sublethal behavioral changes, alterations in metabolic enzyme profiles, histopathology, microbiology, and other endpoints to discern mechanisms for species-specific toxicity and disease susceptibility. With updated facilities at the new College Park facility, the APC has expanded its research capacity and supported the University of Maryland System and the State of Maryland with unique expertise and state-of-the-art holding, maintenance and exposure systems. Research using these systems facilitates working with small- to medium-size fish models in a collaborative, academic setting.

The Aquatic Pathobiology Center (APC) provides students and faculty the unique ability to conduct basic and applied research on aquatic animals in an urban environment. The APC supports M.S., and Ph.D. degree candidates, Post-doctoral researchers, and interns registered through the Department of Biology's Bioacoustics Laboratory (UMCP), Department of Pathology (UMB), the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (UMB), the Department of Animal Sciences (UMCP), the Systemwide Program in Toxicology and the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences (MEES) Program. Research internships are also available to qualified medical and veterinary students, and college undergraduates. One of the objectives of the Center is to educate young investigators in the care and handling of aquatic species as research animals in addition to teaching state-of-the-art biological research techniques. See also program description and photos associated with the APC "Launching Celebration," commemorating the establishment of the new program and research facilities at the University of Maryland College Park campus.

Use of innovative technology

Although the last decade of science has generated a multitude of new and exciting research tools to discern extremely subtle and previously undetectable subcellular and molecular responses, these responses are often far removed from whole organism or environmental field scenarios. Research endpoints used at the APC to evaluate animal well-being, or the effects of exposure-related stress, typically involve a holistic integration of whole animal, behavioral, histological, biochemical and molecular responses. This "top-down" approach allows the animal model to dictate endpoints that maintain biological and ecological relevance, even at the histochemical and molecular level. Examples of endpoints developed through APC collaborations include the use of "fish PET scans" and evaluating c-fos induction to delineate central nervous system alterations due to algal and dinoflagellate toxin exposure in vivo. These endpoints in fish are being concomitantly evaluated using pathology and measuring aberrant behavior using the APC's automated behavioral toxicology exposure system (developed at UMCP, 2001).

Outreach and teaching

Quality science outreach and education continues to be a primary mission of the APC. Our program currently supports six graduate students and has hosted internships and fellowships for high school, undergraduate, and community college interns. Faculty and associates of the APC currently give numerous lectures on aquatic animals and diseases in several undergraduate and graduate courses at UMCP. The APC has developed and taught new courses on Scientific Communication (with primary support for the VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary Medicine) and Applied Toxicology (in collaboration with the UM School of Nursing, UMB). A course in Aquatic Pathobiology is currently under development. Dr. Kane, APC program director, has also developed workshops, television opportunities, and worldwide web outreach to provide quality content to both lay and scientific audiences.

Subject Coverage and Lecturers:

Introduction & Clinical Exam: Andrew Kane

Anatomic Variations: Andrew Kane

Elsamobranchs: Raymond Jones

Microscopic Anatomy: Renate Reimschuessel

Cell Injury: Renate Reimschuessel

Immunology: Robert Anderson

Neoplasia: Michael Lipsky

Microbiology & Virology: Ana Baya & Frank Hetrick

Parasitology: Sarah Poynton & Andrew Kane

Toxicology: Andrew Kane

Nervous System: Renate Reimschuessel

Cardiovascular System: Renate Reimschuessel

Hematology: Jill Arnold

Respiratory System: Renate Reimschuessel

Urinary System: Renate Reimschuessel

Musculoskeletal / Integumentary Systems: Renate Reimschuessel

Endocrine System: Renate Reimschuessel

Reproductive System and Development: Yonithan Zohar

This course includes 4 hours of laboratory excercises per week, student case presentations and two field trips. The text for this course is: Ferguson, H.W. 1989. Systematic Pathology of Fish; A Text and Atlas of Comparative Tissue Responses in Diseases of Teleosts. Iowa State University Press. Ames, Iowa.