Dr. Kartik Baruah

Functional feeds for aquaculture animals; Aquaculture health management; bioactive compounds, heat shock proteins, immunostimulants in host-pathogen interactions;  nutritional reprogramming. 

Stress, caused by abiotic and pathogenic biotic factors has been a major hindering factor affecting the growth and health of aquaculture animals. In fact, these agents have been responsible for causing serious disease outbreaks in high-valued fishes and shrimps. Over the past 12 years, I have been researching on finding holistic and sustainable strategies to control diseases in these animals, and this was based on addressing mutliple disease targets rather than single disease target. In particular, my research interests focused on the 1) development of novel health-care products (based on for e.g: heat shock protein inducers, polyphenols, immunostimulants) and functional feed; 2) probing the biological activity of these products in different host–microbe systems, such as for instance bacterial infections in crustaceans and fishes; and 3) study the role of epigenetics in health and nutritional reprogramming. My research is aimed at commercially important farmed aquatic animals, such as rainbow trout, salmon, crustaceans, seabass, seabream but I also use gnotobiotic Artemia as a convenient testing organism.

Aquaculture Nutrition; Fish and Shrimp Health Management

Post‐doctoral fellows and visiting research associates: completed 4

PhD thesis: ongoing 2; completed 1 

 3. Ms. Aprajita Singh (India; Starting June 2018).  Co-promoter of the thesis provisionally entitled “New feed resources - molecular insights of bioactive components effect on absorption, gene expression, microbiota and metabolism in fish” Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.  Funding: Netaji Subhas - ICAR International Fellowship, India.

2. Mr. Vikash Kumar (India; 2016-present). Promoter of the thesis provisionally entitled “Interaction effects of plant-derived compounds on the performance of Artemia challenged with pathogenic biotic stressor”. Ghent University, Belgium. Funding: Netaji Subhas - ICAR International Fellowship, India.
 
1. Ms. Sonkawade Swati Dharmaji (India; 2012-2015). Co-promoter of the thesis entitled “Screening of dietary nucleotides from sugarcane for therapeutic applications”. Gulbarga University, Karnataka, India. Funding: Junior Research Fellowship.

MSc theses: completed 20; ongoing 1

1.  Norouzitallab, P., Baruah, K. Vanrompay, D. & Bossier, P. (2018). Teaching shrimps self-defense to fight infections. Trends in Biotechnology (In press). 

2.  Baruah, K., Norouzitallab, P., Phong, H.P.P.D., Smagghe, G., & Bossier, P. (2017). Enhanced resistance against Vibrio harveyi infection by carvacrol and its association with the induction of heat shock protein 72 in gnotobiotic Artemia franciscana. Cell Stress & Chaperones. 22(3):377-387. 

3. Norouzitallab, P., Baruah, K., Biswas, P., Vanrompay D., & Bossier, P. (2016). Probing the phenomenon of trained immunity in invertebrates during a transgenerational study, using brine shrimp Artemia as a model system. Scientific Reports 6:21166.  

4. Baruah, K., Phong, Ho P.P.D., Norouzitallab, P., Defoirdt, T., Bossier, P. (2015). The gnotobiotic brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) model system reveals that the phenolic compound pyrogallol protects against infection through its prooxidant activity. Free Radical Biology & Medicine 89:593-601.  

5. Baruah, K. Huy, T.T., Norouzitallab, P., Niu, Y., Gupta, S.K., De Schryver, P & Bossier, P. (2015). Probing the protective mechanism of poly-ß-hydroxybutyrate against vibriosis by using gnotobiotic Artemia franciscana and Vibrio campbellii as host-pathogen model. Scientific Reports 5: 9427. 

6. Baruah, K., Norouzitallab, P., Linayati, L., Sorgeloos, P. & Bossier, P. (2014). Reactive oxygen species generated by a heat shock protein (Hsp) inducing product contributes to Hsp70 production and Hsp70-mediated protective immunity in Artemia franciscana against pathogenic vibrios. Developmental & Comparative Immunology. 46(2):470-9. 

7. Baruah, K., Nan, B., Norouzitallab, P., Dierckens, K., Galindo-Villegas, J. & Bossier, P. (2013). Priming in host-pathogen interactions (Abstracts).  Fish & Shellfish Immunology 34:1635–1691. 

8. Baruah, K., Norouzitallab, P., Shihao, L., Sorgeloos, P., & Bossier, P. (2013). Feeding truncated heat  shock protein 70s protect Artemia franciscana against virulent Vibrio campbellii challenge. Fish & Shellfish Immunology: 34:183-191. 

9. Baruah, K., Norouzitallab, P., Roberts, R.J., Sorgeloos, P., & Bossier, P. (2012). A novel heat-shock protein inducer triggers heat shock protein 70 production and protects Artemia franciscana nauplii against abiotic stressors. Aquaculture. 334-337:152–158. 

10.  Baruah, K., Ranjan, J.K., Sorgeloos, P., MacRae, T. & Bossier, P. (2011). Priming the prophenoloxidase system of Artemia franciscana by heat shock proteins protects against Vibrio campbellii challenge. Fish & Shellfish Immunology. 31: 134-141. 

11.  Baruah, K., Ranjan, J. K., Sorgeloos, P. & Bossier, P. (2010). Efficacy of heterologous and homologous heat shock protein 70s as protective agents to Artemia franciscana challenged with Vibrio campbellii. Fish & Shellfish Immunology. 29:733-739. 

12. Baruah, K., Cam, D.T.V., Dierckens, K., Wille, M., Defoirdt, T., Sorgeloos, P. & Bossier, P. (2009). In vivo effects of single or combined N-acyl homoserine lactone quorum sensing signals on the performance of Macrobrachium rosenbergii larvae. Aquaculture. 288: 233-238. 

13. Kumar, K., Baruah, K., Nguyen, D.V., Smagghe, G., Vossen E., Bossier, P. (2018). Phloroglucinol mediated Hsp70 production in crustaceans: protection against Vibrio parahaemolyticus in Artemia franciscana and Macrobrachium rosenbergii. Frontiers in Immunology, section Comparative Immunology (In press). 

14. Niu, Y., Defoirdt, T., Baruah, K., Van de Wiele T., Dong, S. & Bossier, P. (2014) Bacillus sp. LT3 improves the survival of gnotobiotic brine shrimp (Artemia fransiscana) larvae challenged with Vibrio campbellii by enhancing the innate immune responses and by decreasing the activity of shrimp-associated Vibrio. Veterinary Microbiology. 173:279–288. 

15. Norouzitallab, P., Baruah, K., Vandegehuchte, M., Van Stappen, G., Catania, F., Vanden Bussche, J., Vanhaecke, L., Sorgeloos, P. & Bossier, P. (2014). Environmental heat stress induces epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of robustness in parthenogenetic Artemia model. FASEB J. 8:3552-63.

16. Norouzitallab, P., Baruah, K., Dechamma M.M. & Bossier, P. (2015). Non-lethal heat shock induces HSP70 and HMGB1 proteins sequentially to protect Artemia franciscana against Vibrio campbellii. Fish & Shellfish Immunology 42: 395-399. 

17. Norouzitallab, P., Biswas, P., Baruah, K. & Bossier, P. (2015). Multigenerational immune priming in an invertebrate parthenogenetic Artemia to a pathogenic Vibrio campbellii. Fish & Shellfish Immunology 42: 426-429.  

18. Niu, Y., Defoirdt, T., Baruah, K., Van de Wiele T., Dong, S. & Bossier, P. (2014) Bacillus sp. LT3 improves the survival of gnotobiotic brine shrimp (Artemia fransiscana) larvae challenged with Vibrio campbellii by enhancing the innate immune responses and by decreasing the activity of shrimp-associated Vibrio. Veterinary Microbiology. 173:279–288.

19. Defoirdt, T.,  Pande, G.S.J., Baruah, K. & Bossier, P. (2013). The apparent quorum sensing inhibitory activity of pyrogallol is a side effect of peroxide production. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. 57:2870-3. 

20. Najdegerami, E.H., Baruah, K., Shiri, A., Rekecki, A., Van den Broeck, W., Sorgeloos, P., Boon, N., Bossier, P. & De Schryver, P. (2013). Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) larvae fed Artemia nauplii enriched with poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB): effect on growth performance, body composition, digestive enzymes, gut microbial community, gut histology and stress tests. Aquaculture Research.  46: 801–812. 

21. De Schryver, P., Sinha, A.K., Kunwar, P.S., Baruah, K., Verstraete, W., Boon, N., De Boeck, G. & P. Bossier. (2010). Poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) increases growth performance and intestinal bacterial range-weighted richness in juvenile European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 86:1535-1541. 

22. Brackman, G., Celen, S., Baruah, K., Bossier, P., Van Calenbergh, S., Nelis, H.J. & Coenye, T. (2009). AI-2 quorum-sensing inhibitors affect the starvation response and reduce virulence in several Vibrio species, most likely by interfering with LuxPQ. Microbiology. 155: 4114-4122. 

23. Yengkokpam, S., Debnath, D., Sahu, N.P., Pal, A.K., Jain, K.K. & Baruah, K. (2016). Dietary protein enhances non-specific immunity, anti-oxidative capability and resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila in Labeo rohita fingerlings pre-exposed to short feed deprivation stress. Fish & Shellfish Immunology. 59:439-446.

24. Najdegerami, E.H., Baruah, K., Shiri, A., Rekecki, A., Van den Broeck, W., Sorgeloos, P., Boon, N., Bossier, P. & De Schryver, P. (2013). Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii) larvae fed Artemia nauplii enriched with poly-β-hydroxybutyrate (PHB): effect on growth performance, body composition, digestive enzymes, gut microbial community, gut histology and stress tests. Aquaculture Research.  46: 801–812. 

25. Debnath, D., Pal, A.K., Sahu, N.P., Yengkokpam, S., Baruah, K., D. Choudhury & G. Venkateshwarlu. (2007). Digestive enzymes and metabolic profile of Labeo rohita fingerlings fed diets with different crude protein levels. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - Part B: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology. 146: 107-114. 

Links to publications

https://scholar.google.se/citations?user=uYgtcv0AAAAJ&hl=en

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kartik_Baruah

https://biblio.ugent.be/person/802000340344