AQUAEXCEL@Stirling – The EU AQUAEXCEL project at the University of Stirling

TNA Visit – Exploring dietary hemp to reduce stress and improve immune status in fish

The need to find natural products to enhance fish welfare and production efficiency have led to the study of dietary hemp inclusion into fish diet to reduce stress and improve fish immune status since it presents many medicinal properties. There are few studies in fish that suggest that the use of CBD decreases the expression of pro-inflammatory factors, promotes the antioxidant capacity and growth performance and reduces aggressiveness and cortisol levels. However, the effect of hemp dietary inclusion on the chronic and acute stress response in species of interest in aquaculture, such as gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), as well as the mechanism by which CBD exerts its anti-inflammatory effects remains unclear.

For that purpose, the pre doctoral student Sara Cartan from the University of Cádiz has been visiting the Institute of Aquaculture to work with Dra. Mónica Betancor from January 2025 through the AQUAEXCEL transnational access project “RESIBREAM” to study the inclusion of Cannabis sativa into the diet to ameliorate gilthead seabream welfare and assess its effect after a chronic and an acute stress challenge.

Further information about Sara’s research group can be found on Instagram @FishUCA

Outbound TNA – Visit to Wageningen University for hempseed nutrition trial

Dr Stuart McMillan, Research Fellow at the Institute of Aquaculture, University of Stirling, reports: The last days of October saw myself and Dr. Monica Betancor visit Wageningen University and Research (WUR) to observe the completion of our trial investigating hempseed inclusion in diets of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Industrial hempseed (Cannabis sativa) is an amazing emerging sustainable resource and is a biproduct of European cultivation for the construction and biofuel industry. Furthermore, it absorbs plenty of CO₂, can be part of a crop rotation strategy and bioremediates soil. Our short 6-week trial compared growth, behaviour of fish and the digestibility of diets comparing a commercial-like feed, to a diet with a soybean meal (SBM) inclusion and two experimental diets where a proportion of SBM was replaced with either hempseed meal or a single cell protein (Calysta’s FeedKind^Ⓡ).

This was all possible through the AQUAEXCEL Transnational Access programme, which I would heartily recommend, especially for those who are eager to get some experience with small grant writing. Overall, this was an excellent opportunity primarily to complete a piece of collaborative research with a different institution and build networks, and special thanks to Dr Fotini Kokou, our collaborator in Wageningen! In addition, it was also an excellent opportunity to visit another institution and see how they did things differently, especially relating to running their aquarium facilities, and compliance for a trial in a country with slightly different rules governing animal research. Results are still pending and will be discussed in an accompanying video soon!

Consortium meeting in Turin

Prof. Sonia Rey Planellas and Operations Officer, Sushee Dunn attended the AQUAEXCEL3.0 Annual Consortium Meeting which was held in Turin in early October 2024. This was an important meeting to review progress on the project and determine strategy for the final year of the AQUAEXCEL programme. It was also a very useful opportunity for Sushee to meet consortium members and help facility managers with any issues concerning project management through the ARIA application portal.

The meeting was hosted by Università degli Studi di Torino, which is also one of the AQUAEXCEL TNA Infrastructures. There was therefore a chance to visit the installations, including aquaria for nutrition trials and an insect rearing facility.

AQUAEXCEL and AQUASERV update for Institute of Aquaculture staff and research students

Sonia Rey Planellas presenting the AQUAEXCEL project to Institute of Aquaculture staff and research studets

On 25th September 2024, Professor Sonia Rey Planellas gave a presentation at a University of Stirling, Institute of Aquaculture meeting for staff and research students on the opportunities still available under the AQUAEXCEL programme, and especially the new opportunities for both inbound and outbound transnational collaborations with new infrastructures through the recent link with EMBRC and the newly launched AQUASERV programme. It was also an opportunity to remind staff of the possibilities for technician transnational access and encourage engagement with the TNA project review process which requires a large pool of active reviewers to maintain an efficient selection process.

Technician Mobility: Visit of Carina Mónico

*Carina Mónico (Centre) with Jacquie Ireland (Left) (IoA Lead Technical Specialist and AQUAEXCEL Technical Lead), and Fiona Muir (Right) (Senior Technical Specialist, Cell Culture)*

In August 2024 we were very pleased to welcome Carina Mónico from CCMAR, Portugal, to the Institute of Aquaculture laboratories in Stirling. Carina works in the Microscopy Facility at CCMAR and came to the Institute of Aquaculture to learn about fish cell culture techniques and how to propagate and maintain established cell lines. In particular she learnt about the operational procedures that Fiona Muir and the IoA have in place for running and maintaining the cell culture lab. This knowledge and experience will be invaluable in helping CCMAR establish its own cell culture facility, as well as in supporting Carina’s work in the Microscopy Facility by providing better assistance with cell imaging experiments and experimental design.

A short video about Carina’s visit to the Institute of Aquaculture

5th Call for Technician Transnational Mobility

Please note this call is limited to technical staff of the AQUAEXCEL Partner Organisations – Deadline 13th September 2024. This is also the final call under AQUAEXCEL3.0.

As highlighted in earlier posts, to promote capacity building and sharing best practices on how to improve the delivery of research services in an aquaculture research institute, AQUAEXCEL3.0 offers the possibility of a short-term staff exchange in which staff from one partner institute can visit another institute of the consortium. The purpose of the exchange is to learn or share experience and knowledge and to acquire new skills. The program is intended for personnel involved in the provision of services, such as research engineers and technological and technical personnel of any aquaculture institute of the AQUAEXCEL3.0 consortium. For further details of the programme and a copy of the application form, please contact your local facility manager (for University of Stirling staff this is Amaya Albalat).

University of Stirling joins new Infrastructure programme – AQUASERV

After three funding cycles, the AQUAEXCEL programme will come to an end in 2025. However, the good news is that a new even larger programme has been approved which brings AQUAEXCEL together with several other Infrastructure programmes including The European Marine Biological Resource Centre ERIC (EMBRC), the Analysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems ERIC, the Infrastructure for Promoting Metrology in Food and Nutrition (METROFOOD) as well as the International Council for Exploration of the Seas and the Research Infrastructure for Science and Innovation Policy Studies (RISIS).

Under the new “National Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Hub” at the University of Stirling, we will be making available a range of temperate, tropical, marine and freshwater aquarium facilities. The first call for access is expected in late 2024. Further details are available in the EU Funding & Tenders Portal and the AQUASERV website.

AQUAEXCEL Extended to incorporate new EMBRC Member Infrastructures

The European Marine Biological Resource Centre (EMBRC) has joined the Transnational Access programme of the AQUAEXCEL3.0 project and is announcing a joint call for access proposals.

In May 2024, EMBRC joined AQUAEXCEL3.0’s Transnational Access (TNA) programme to widen access to aquaculture research facilities in Europe. 40 EMBRC marine stations and institutes from 8 countries will provide additional services to complement AQUAEXCEL3.0’s existing aquaculture services. The additional services provided by EMBRC partners focus on supporting marine biological and ecological research. They include:

Facilitating access to marine ecosystems (through coastal research vessels and the collection of organisms from the field)
Marine biological resources (from culture collections and biobanks and taxonomy services)
Experimental facilities (aquaria, tanks and mesocosms, dry and wet laboratories)
Technological platforms (for molecular biology, imaging and structural and chemical analysis).

The joint call launched on Monday 13 May 2024, and researchers are now able to submit project proposals until the project ends in October 2025 or when all the available funding has been allocated, whichever is sooner.

Read the full press release

Further information about AQUAEXCEL Transnational Access

4th Call for Technician Transnational Mobility

Please note this call is limited to technical staff of the AQUAEXCEL Partner Organisations – Deadline 31st May 2024.

To promote capacity building and sharing best practices on how to improve the delivery of research services in an aquaculture research institute, AQUAEXCEL3.0 offers the possibility of a short-term staff exchange in which staff from one partner institute can visit another institute of the consortium. The purpose of the exchange is to learn or share experience and knowledge and to acquire new skills. The program is intended for personnel involved in the provision of services, such as research engineers and technological and technical personnel of any aquaculture institute of the AQUAEXCEL3.0 consortium.
To participate in the program, technicians will need to complete the associated Application Form which should include a mobility plan identifying the objectives, skills and training outcomes to be achieved during the internship.

For further details of the programme and a copy of the application form, please contact your local facility manager (for University of Stirling this is Amaya Albalat)

Technician Mobility: Visit of Vasso Terzoglou

The Institute of Aquaculture facilitated the visit of Research Technician, Vasso Terzoglou, from 20th – 28th November 2023, via the AQUAEXCEL3.0 Technician Transnational Mobility Programme. She works in the Biotechnology and Aquaculture Division at the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), Heraklion, Crete, and came to the Institute to gain additional experience in Molecular Biology protocols. The visit also provided an opportunity for her to share information about the activities and facilities available at HCMR, with staff and research students at an Institute of Aquaculture weekly seminar. This was a good reminder of the potential opportunities for future collaborations through AQUAEXCEL or other EU programmes.

Vasso Terzoglou talks about her visit in this short video