On Thursday 28 June, Hugrún Lísa Heimisdóttir will defend her master's thesis in the field of biotechnology at the University of Akureyri's resources department. The defense starts at 10:00 and will be in room R312 in Borgir. Two of Matís' employees were Hugrún's supervisors in the study.
The title of Hugrún Lísa's dissertation is "Effects of fish protein hydrolyzate-enhanced live prey on cod (Gadus morhua L.) larval development: Protein expression and stimulation of selected innate immune parameters"
In the dissertation, Hugrún Lísa discusses the effects of food animals that were enriched with fish peptides on the growth and development of cod larvae. In her research, Hugrún Lísa used two types of methods. First, it applied immunostaining to evaluate the effect of peptide-enhanced food animals on key factors in the cod larvae's non-specific immune response. Second, Hugrún Lísa applied a two-dimensional electron microscopy protein quantum assay and a two-mass protein assay to study the effect of peptide-enhanced food on protein expression in the larval gastrointestinal tract, but for studies on the response of cod larvae to changes in feed composition. The immunostaining also indicated that the enrichment of food animals with fish peptides promotes more robust tissue layers and thus has a positive effect on the development of cod larvae.
Hugrún Lísa graduated with a bachelor's degree (B.Sc.) in biotechnology from the University of Akureyri's resources department in the spring of 2010. She has been working on her research and dissertation for the past two years and has received a grant from the University of Akureyri's Research Fund, Matís ohf. and Iceprotein Ltd.
Hugrún Lísa's supervisors are dr. Oddur Vilhelmsson, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Natural Resources at the University of Akureyri, dr. Hólmfríður Sveinsdóttir, specialist at Matís ohf., And Jónína Jóhannsdóttir, M.Sc., specialist at Matís ohf. The opponent is dr. Bjarnheiður K. Guðmundsdóttir, assistant professor at the University of Iceland School of Medicine and specialist at the University of Iceland Laboratory of Pathology at Keldur.
For further information Hólmfríður Sveinsdóttir at Matís.
The above news first appeared on the website of the University of Akureyri, www.unak.is.