College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Fisheries and Wildlife

Background:

Sean is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Michigan State University Aquatic Animal Health Laboratory (MSU-AAHL) within the Aquatic Animal Disease Ecology Program led by Dr. Thomas Loch.  He earned his B.S. degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Disease Ecology and Management from Lyman Briggs College at Michigan State University in 2020 – during his undergraduate studies he conducted an independent study under the guidance of Dr. Loch with the goal of producing a repository of “reportable” finfish pathogens across the United States, as determined by state agencies, regional fish health committees, or other regulatory and non-regulatory fish health management bodies.  During his graduate studies at the MSU-AAHL, Sean’s dissertation research focused on halting vertical transmission of the fish pathogenic bacterium, Flavobacterium psychrophilum, which is responsible for substantial losses of captive-reared salmonids (Family Salmonidae) worldwide.  To this end, he developed and tested a novel loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay to allow for rapid, on-site identification of F. psychrophilum infected reproductive fluids and more efficient disease diagnosis, undertook a large-scale serocharacterization study towards informing the development of cross-protective F. psychrophilum vaccine preparations, and conducted in vivo experiments to evaluate the use of alternative iodophor-based egg disinfection strategies to reduce intra ovum F. psychrophilum infection risk.  As a Research Associate, Sean will continue to research flavobacterial and other microbial pathogens affecting fish species found in the Great Lakes region.