Eveline (Evi) Emmenegger

Research Interests:

Currently Evi is the principal investigator that manages the aquatic biosafety level three (BSL-3) laboratory, one the few facilities in the U.S. built for testing aquatic pathogens that pose a high risk to the environment. Newly introduced aquatic pathogens can be safely study in this secure BSL-3 containment laboratory to determine if these novel pathogens are potential threats to native fish and amphibian species. Her research focuses on studying exotic and invasive fish viruses and the various stress factors that lead to disease outbreaks in fish and herptofauna populations. Her other work includes testing the susceptibility of native and introduced aquatic animal species to novel virus strains, development of a template database for aquatic pathogens, molecular characterization of fish viruses, assessing the genetic variability of fish virus strains, and therapeutic means of combating fish diseases, including the construction and patent of a DNA vaccine for an exotic fish rhabdovirus.