Development of cell culture systems from marine molluscs

Bivalve aquaculture is of global significance contributing greatly to the economy. Pathogenic outbreaks leading to mass mortalities are also common. However, important tools such as bivalve cell lines to investigate pathogenic infections are still not available. In this context, our focus is on developing cell culture systems from bivalves (oysters) and attempting possible transfection/transduction (pre-requisites for inducing immortalization in cells) in the developed cell culture systems, besides other applications such as toxicity studies.