1. Technologies and strategies for ex situ conservation of aquatic organisms: the role of cryopreservation in long-term management 2. Molecular approaches on DNA evaluation after primordial germ cell cryopreservation in zebrafish 3. The role of epigenetics in fish biology and reproduction: an insight into the methods applied to aquaculture 4. Non-coding RNAs in fish physiology and development: miRNAs as a cornerstone in gene networks 5. Nutritional Epigenetics 6. Methods for mapping genomic variants associated with complex traits in aquaculture species 7. Double-label immunofluorescence: a simple and effective tool to study pituitary regulation in teleost fish. 8. Mucosal immunology in fish 9. The characterization of the neuroendocrine stress status as part of the multiparametric assessment of welfare in fish 10. Evolution of fish genomes 11. Zebrafish xenotransplantation 12. Status, challenges and perspectives of fish cell culture - Focus on cell lines capable of in vitro mineralization
Ignacio Fernández is a researcher in fish development and molecular biology at the Agro-Technological Institute of Castilla y León (ITACyL), Spain. Dr. Fernández obtained his BS in Marine Sciences from the University of Vigo (Spain) in 2003. His enthusiasm and curiosity for understanding how fish growth and develop led him to get a doctoral degree. He got a fellowship to conduct his PhD at the Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology (IRTA, Spain) in collaboration with the Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER, France), receiving his PhD graduation in Aquaculture at the University of Barcelona (Spain) in 2011. In 2012 won a post-doctoral fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) at the Centre of Marine Sciences (CCMAR, Portugal). There, he studied the molecular pathways governing the skeletal development using a multidisciplinary approach. Along his career, Dr. Fernández performed several short stages at different internationally recognized institutions. The different research skills gained all over the years, gave him the possibility to won two Spanish grants of excellence in research: Beatriu de Pinós (2018) and Ramón y Cajal (2019). Currently, Dr. Fernández has coauthored 47 publications in international peer reviewed journals. His main research interests are: i) the development of sustainable aquaculture production; ii) the identification, validation and implementation of integrative biomarkers of fish physiological condition, particularly on nutritional status; and iii) the identification of suitable predictive and diagnosis descriptors of fish quality.
Jorge M.O. Fernandes is a Professor in Genomics and Molecular Biology at Nord University, Norway. He has also held honorary professorships at the University of Messina (Italy) and the University of Tokyo (Japan). Prof. Fernandes obtained his BEng in Chemical Engineering with specialization in Biotechnology from Instituto Superior Técnico (Portugal), where he graduated with distinction in 1997. His passion for Biology led him to pursue a doctoral degree in Comparative Immunology at the University of St Andrews. After his PhD graduation in 2003, he took a post-doc position until 2007, studying the molecular mechanisms that regulate muscle growth in fish. Prof. Fernandes has over 15 years' experience as an independent researcher and is a recognised expert in aquaculture genomics. His current research fields are muscle growth and innate immunity in teleosts, with focus on the epigenetic regulation (DNA methylation and miRNAs) of gene networks by environmental factors in commercially important species. Prof. Fernandes is an ERC grantee and has an established track record of high-standard research, with 113 publications in international journals with peer review and an h-index of 35. He is a regular reviewer for various scientific journals and funding bodies, and has won the Nord University research prize in 2014 and 2016.