AgriMarine Announces Formation of Scientific Development Committee
AgriMarine Holdings Inc., the leader in floating closed containment technology and production for sustainable aquaculture, is pleased to announce the appointments of Lawrence Albright, PH.D, William Kay, Ph.D. and Jo-Anne Leung, Ph.D. to the Company's newly formed Science and Technology Development Committee, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to AgriMarine.
The Committee has been created to advise AgriMarine's Board and Management on matters of fish health, disease prevention, husbandry and applied science and technology as it pertains to the Company's closed containment system.
The Committee is chaired by Dr. Lawrence Albright, a director of the Company, since its inception . Dr. Albright holds a B.Sc. (Agriculture) (1963) from Macdonald College, McGill University and M.S. (1965) and Ph.D. (1967) degrees from Oregon State University in Aquatic Microbiology. He served in the Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University for 39 years, retiring in 2006 and is currently Professor Emeritus. During his time at Simon Fraser University, Dr. Albright carried out extensive research on salmonids diseases, including sea lice infections of cultured salmon. Dr. Albright has also developed a strain of sockeye salmon suitable for aquaculture production.
William Kay, Ph.D. is Professor (Emeritus) of Biochemistry at the University of Victoria. He has served as past President and CEO of Microtek Research and Development, Ltd. and Microtek International, Inc. Both companies developed and commercialized diagnostics, vaccines and vaccine delivery systems across a number of fish species to maintain farmed fish health. In May 2010, Microtek was acquired by Pfizer Animal Health; a division of Pfizer Inc. Dr. Kay currently serves Pfizer in a consulting role. Dr. Kay has also served as a co-founder and Chairman of a number of other B.C. biotechnology companies.
Dr. Jo-Ann Leong currently serves as a director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island in Kaneohe on the island of O'ahu. She received her Bachelor's degree in Zoology from the University of California at Berkeley and her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California School of Medicine. Dr. Leong's research accomplishments include the discovery of a new genus of the Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus or IHNV, the development of successful treatments for trout and salmon that contract the disease, and the development of a recombinant DNA vaccine for salmon.
"We are delighted to welcome Dr. Kay, Dr. Leong and Dr. Albright to our Science Committee", said Richard Buchanan, CEO of AgriMarine Holdings. "Each are respected members of the academic community and recognized leaders in their respective fields. As the Company increases fish production in closed containment systems in our facilities in China and Canada, we expect that their experience, guidance and technical expertise will be extremely valuable in addressing the issues of fish health management in our hatcheries and farming operations."