Professor/Director
Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology
Ph.D., University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco
joannleo@hawaii.edu
Molecular Virology, Vaccine Development, Phylogeography. Viruses that infect aquatic organisms are important disease pathogens and their impact on the salmon and trout rearing industry can be devastating. These viruses, particularly infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), a rhabdovirus, and infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV), a birnavirus, are so lethal that 90% of salmon production at a hatchery can be lost to these diseases. My laboratory is developing vaccines and other treatments to control these diseases in fish. In Hawaii, diseases in corals and tropical fish have become our research focus.
Alonso, M. and J. C. Leong. 2002.
Suppressive subtraction libraries to identify interferon-inducible genes
in fish. Marine Biotechnology 4: 74-80.
Simon, B., J. Nomellini, P. Chiou, W. Bingle, J. Thornton, J. Smit, and
J. Leong. 2001. Recombinant vaccines against infectious hematopoietic
necrosis virus: production by the Caulobacter crescentus S-layer protein
secretion system and evaluation in laboratory trials. Dis. Aquat. Org.
44:17-27.
T. L. Crippen, L. M. Bootland, J. C. Leong, M. S. Fitzpatrick, C. B.
Schreck, and A. T. Vella. Analysis of Salmonid Leukocytes Purified by
Hypotonic Lysis of Erythrocytes. 2001. Journal of Aquatic Animal Health
13:234-245.
Nygaard, R., S. Husgard, A-I. Sommer, J. C. Leong, and B. Robertsen.
2000. Induction of Mx protein by interferon and double-stranded RNA in
Salmonid cells. Fish & Shellfish Immunology 10:435-450.