We have invited Professor Vik Vakharia from the Marine Biotechnology Center, University of Maryland, USA, to give a small seminar on reverse genetics on viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus on Friday 9 September, 10.00 in the Main Auditorum (Store auditorium - building 22), before he continues to the EAFP meeting in Split.

Professor Vakharia has presented his work on reverse genetics on VHSV in Marine Biotech (2010) and recently he published a paper in JVI on the anti-apoptotic effects of NV of VHSV using reverse genetics and virus knock-out variants.

In this seminar we will focus on the reverse genetics method and how it can be used for pathogenesis studies. We will also present data from our own research (Sung-Hyun Kim's PhD study) focusing on the same methods and mechanisms of viral entry across external barriers using model systems (polarized gill epithelial cells), a topic we have also published on earlier.

Title of presentations will be:
10:00 - 11:00: Reverse genetics of VHSV and its use for the study of viral pathogenesis (Vakharia)

11:00 - 11.15: Short break

11:15 - 11.45: Correlation between in vitro infectivity to trout gill epithelial cells and in vivo virulence of marine and freshwater strains of VHSV (Kim/Evensen)