The students participate in "Fish Immunology Workshop" conducted during the spring term (usually in April) at Wageningen University in The Netherlands. The workshop topics cover the recent advances in fish immunology. Practical sessions cover humoral and cellular immune assays, computer-based transcriptome mining and synteny searches in fish genomes. Prior to the workshop, the students will be assigned topics for in-depth reading. These topics will be related to the themes at the workshop. Following the workshop, the students have to prepare a written assignment on the allotted topic. Furthermore, they have to give an oral presentation of the topic. This part will take place in Bodø.

Students have to pay around NOK 1000 (registration, course materials, practical classes and lodging) for participating in the Fish Immunology Workshop at Wageningen. Students will have to make their own travel arrangements. The part of the study in Bodø has no costs.

On successful completion of the course, the student should have the following learning outcome

Knowledge
The student will:

- have a deeper understanding of the cellular and humoral defence mechanisms in fish

- know more about the various adaptations in the protective mechanisms of fish species that have enabled them to survive in hostile environments

- be familiar with the application of molecular techniques to gain further insight into the immunesystem of fish

Skills
The student should be:

- able to apply the advanced tools in molecular biology to study the immune responses of fish

- capable of exploiting the aquired knowledge to develop vaccines

- able to discover protective molecules that could be employed to develop biotechnological tools for preventing diseases

General competence

The student should:

- have a deeper understanding of how fishes protect themselves

- know how evolutionary adaptations have enabled life to thrive in aquatic ecosystems

- have the background knowledge on developing sustainable soulutions for combating diseases among farmed aquatic animals

- be able to appreciate that the advances in human immunology open the door to furthering the knowledge in lower vertebrates

- Workshop: lectures and practical session

- Discussion at Nord University based on the workshop topics

Assessment methods and criteria:

Course involvement, individual verbal presentation and written report. Pass/not pass.

• Mandatory work, comprises 0/100 of the grade, grading scale Passed - Failed.