As the head of the Emerging Aquatic Infectious Diseases research group at the Institute of Aquaculture (Bacteriology, Virology, Pathology), Manfred Weidmann supervised the development of research on emerging pathogens in aquaculture during his time at the University of Stirling which ended in 2020.

Some of the work in aquaculture virology based on previous experiences as point of need testing is in great demand in aquaculture. A first project on mobile biomarker detection of smoltification in salmon was successful. A study on the molecular evolution of IPNV on Scottish salmon farms described the evolution of the virus in the farmed salmonids. Other work included a study on trout epithelial cells, and their response to virus infection, trying to understand the development of gill pox disease induced by Salmon Gill poxvirus in a Scottish salmon hatchery.

The contribution to the Project Plastic Vector is to evaluate the potential of pathogenic viruses adsorption to microplastics in rivers, freshwater and coastal waters. The aim is to develop recommendations for environmental monitoring guidelines to inform a risk assessment protocol transferable across the UK and beyond.

Publications
  1. Xia X, Yu Y, Weidmann M, Pan Y, Yan S, Wang Y (2014) Rapid detection of shrimp white spot syndrome virus by real time, isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification assay. PLoS One 2014 Aug 14;9(8):e104667 10.1371/journal.pone.0104667
  2. Xiaa X, Yua Y, Weidmann M, Pana Y, Yana S, Wang Y (2015) Rapid detection of infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) by real-time, isothermal recombinase polymerase amplification assay. Arch Virol. 160(4):987-94 10.1007/s00705-015-2357-7
  3. Herath TK, Ferguson H, Weidmann M, Bron, Thompson K, Adams A, Richards R (2016) Pathogenesis of experimental salmonid alphavirus infection in vivo: an ultrastructural insight. Veterinary Research 47(1):7 doi.org/10.1186/s13567-015-0300-2
  4. Fathi M, Dickson C, Dickson M, Leschen W, Baily J, Muir K, Ulrich K, Weidmann M (2017) Identification of Tilapia Lake Virus in Egypt in Nile tilapia affected by ‘summer mortality’ syndrome. Aquaculture 473: 430–432 sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0044848617301989
  5. Herath TK, Ashby A, Jayasuriya N, Bron J, Taylor J, Adams S, Richards R, Weidmann M, Ferguson H, Taggart J, Migaud H, Fordyce M, Thompson K (2017) Impact of Salmonid alphavirus infection in diploid and triploid Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fry. PLoS One 12(9): e0179192 10.1371/journal.pone.0179192
  6. Weidmann M (2017) Complexities of Diagnostics of Viruses Affecting Viruses Affecting Farmed Aquatic Species in Diagnosis and Control of Diseases of Fish and Shellfish, p19-36, Editor(s): Brian Austin, Aweeda Newaj-Fyzul
  7. Shahin K, Ramirez-Paredes JG, Harold G, Lopez-Jimena B, Adams A, Weidmann M (2018) Development of a Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay for Rapid Detection of Francisella noatunensis subsp. Orientalis. PLoS One 13(2): e0192979 10.1371/journal.pone.0192979
  8. Ulrich K, Wehner S, Bekaert M, Di Paola N, Dilcher M, Muir KF, Taggart JB, Matejusova I, Weidmann M (2018) Molecular epidemiological study on Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus isolates from aquafarms in Scotland over three decades. Journal of General Virology 99(12): 1567-1581. 10.1099/jgv.0.001155
  9. Mandal SC, Weidmann M, Albalat A, Carrick E, Morro B, MacKenzie S (2020) Polarized Trout Epithelial Cells Regulate Transepithelial Electrical Resistance, Gene Expression, and the Phosphoproteome in Response to Viral Infection. Front Immunol. 11:1809. 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01809
  10. Ahmadivand S, Weidmann M, Mansour El-Matbouli Rahmati-Holasooma (2020) Low pathogenic strain of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) associated with recent outbreaks in Iranian trout farms. Pathogens 9(10), 782. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0817/9/10/782
  11. Benkaroun J, Muir KF, Allshire R, Tamer C, Weidmann M, (2021) Isolation of a new infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) variant from a fish farm in Scotland. Viruses 13, 38 https://doi.org/10.3390/v13030385
  12. Ahmadivand S, Palić D, Weidmann M (2021) Molecular epidemiology of Novirhabdoviruses emerging in Iranian trout farms. Viruses 13, 448 https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/13/3/448
  13. McGowan M, Mackenzie S, Steiropoulus N, Weidmann M (2021)Testing of NKA expression by mobile real time PCR is an efficient indicator of smoltification status of farmed Atlantic salmon  Aquaculture 544, 1737085 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2021.737085 [doi.org]
  14. Weidmann M, El-Matbouli M, Zeng W, Bergman SM (2021) Special issue „Emerging Viruses in Aquaculture“ Viruses 13(3)-14(2) https://www.mdpi.com/journal/viruses/special_issues/aquaculture_virus
  15. Tamer C, Benkaroun J, Kurucay HN, Albayrak H, Weidmann M (2022) Development of a Recombinase Polymerase Amplification Assay against Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus Journal of Fish Diseases 00: 1–7 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfd.13629
  16. Benkaroun J, Bergmann SM, Römer-Oberdörfer A, Demircan MD, Tamer C, Kachh GJ, Weidmann M (2022) New insights into Lympohocystis Disease virus genome diversity Viruses 14(12), 2741 https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/14/12/2741 in Secial issue „Iridoviruses“ (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/viruses/special_issues/Iridovirus)
  17. Hernández-Montiel A, Weidmann M, Bekaert M, Ulrich K, Benkaroun J, Giffard-MenaIb I (2022) In-vivo comparative virulence of different White Spot Syndrome Virus isolates in Penaeus vannamei and whole genome comparison analysis Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 152:85-98 https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/dao/v152/p85-98/
  18. Weidmann M (2023) Efficiency of surface inactivation disinfectants for bacteria strains studied in an aquaculture microbiology laboratory Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity 5(2): 84-86 https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.jobb.2023.06.001  & Corrigendum to “Efficiency of surface inactivation disinfectants for bacteria studied in an aquaculture microbiology laboratory Journal of Biosafety and Biosecurity 5(2): 87 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobb.2023.07.001.