Next Friday 9 April. doctoral defense at the University of Iceland School of Medicine. Rannveig Björnsdóttir, an employee of Matís, is defending her doctoral dissertation "Bacterial flora in the early stages of halibut farming".
Doctoral dissertation in life and medical sciences from the Faculty of Medicine at the School of Health Sciences, University of Iceland.
Bacterial flora in the early stages of halibut farming
Next Friday 9 April. doctoral defense at the University of Iceland School of Medicine. Rannveig Björnsdóttir is defending her doctoral dissertation "Bacterial flora during the early stages of halibut farming".Hippoglossus hippoglossus L.). Opponents are dr. Brian Austin, Professor and Director of the Fisheries Institute at the University of Stirling in Scotland and dr. Gunnsteinn Ægir Haraldsson, director of research-related studies at the University of Iceland School of Medicine. The supervisor was dr. Bjarnheiður K. Guðmundsdóttir, specialist at the University of Iceland Laboratory of Pathology at Keldur and adjunct professor at the University of Iceland School of Medicine, and in addition to her, the doctoral committee included dr. Eva Benediktsdóttir, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, dr. Helgi Thorarensen, professor at the Faculty of Aquaculture and Fish Biology at Hólar University, dr. Jakob K Kristjánsson, CEO of Prokazyme Ltd. and dr. Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of Matís ohf.
Dr. Guðmundur Þorgeirsson, professor and president of the Faculty of Medicine, will chair the ceremony, which will take place in room 132 in Askja and will begin at 13:00.
Abstract from the study
The results of the doctoral project shed more light on the development of bacterial flora in the early stages of halibut farming and the possible effects of the composition of the flora on survival and development from egg fertilization to the end of initial feeding. Severe and sudden declines are a problem in these first and most sensitive stages of rearing, and not least in the first weeks of feeding when the larvae need live feed animals. The results also show that changes in environmental factors had a significant effect on the number and composition of the bacterial flora, as it was possible to stimulate non-specific larval immunity in the treatment of food animals with hydrolysed fish proteins and improved survival in the treatment of feed animals with bacterial strains prevalent in the gastrointestinal tract. The results also indicate that the predominant part of the flora of larvae and their feed animals can to a large extent be arable.
The project was carried out in collaboration Matís ohf. and the University of Akureyri and in close collaboration with Fiskey hf. Other partners were the University of Iceland Laboratory of Pathology at Keldur, the University of Tromsø in Norway, Iceprotein ehf. and Hólar University.
The project was funded by the Rannís Technology Development Fund, the AVS Fisheries Research Fund, the Biotechnology Network in Resource Utilization, the University of Akureyri Research Fund and the KEA University Fund.
About the doctoral dissertation
Rannveig Björnsdóttir was born in 1959. She graduated from Menntaskólinn að Laugarvatn in 1980, Cand. mag. degree from the University of Fisheries in Tromsø, Norway in 1988 and Cand.scient. degree in immunology and fish diseases from the same school in 1990. Since 1991, Rannveig has worked part-time as a specialist at the Fisheries Research Institute and later as head of department and director of aquaculture at Matís ohf. and part-time as an assistant professor and then associate professor at the Department of Fisheries and later the Department of Natural Resources at the University of Akureyri. Rannveig began her doctoral studies at the University of Iceland School of Medicine in 2004. Rannveig is the daughter of the couple Björn Benediktsson, who was responsible for the development of Silfurstjörn hf. in Öxarfjörður and Ásta Björnsdóttir, housewife. Rannveig has one grown daughter, Hugrún Lísa.
For further information, please contact Rannveig Björnsdóttir, tel. +354 858 5108, e-mail: rannveig.bjornsdottir@matis.is or rannveig@unak.is