Eveline (Evi) Emmenegger
Evi was born and raised in Alaska, and spent her summers commercial fishing and working in canneries. Her continued affinities for fish and fascination with the mysteries of microbial pathogens lead to a double major in fisheries and microbiology at college, a graduate degree in fisheries, and ultimately a desire to work in the field of fish pathology.
Biography
Education:
B.S. Fisheries, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
B.S. Microbiology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
M.S. Fisheries, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Research Interests:
Currently Evi is the principal investigator that manages the aquatic biosafety level three (BSL-3) laboratory, one of the few facilities in the U.S. built for the testing aquatic pathogens that pose a high risk to the environment. Newly introduced aquatic pathogens can be safely study in this secure BSL-3 containment laboratory to determine if these novel pathogens are potential threats to native fish stocks. Her research focuses on studying exotic and invasive fish viruses and the various stress factors that lead to disease outbreaks in fish populations. Her other work includes development of a template database for aquatic pathogens, in-house and web-based databases cataloging and characterizing fish viruses, assessing the genetic variability of fish virus strains, and therapeutic means of combating fish diseases.
Experience:
2001 to Present - Research Microbiologist, Virology Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA
1994-2001 - Microbiologist, Molecular Biology Program, U.S. Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Science Center, Seattle, WA
1992-1994 - Fisheries Biologist, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, National Fisheries Research Center, Seattle, WA
1990-1991 - Microbiologist, Fish Pathology Section, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Juneau, AK
1989-1990 - Fish and Wildlife Technician, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Juneau, AK
Science and Products
Investigation and Disease Prevention of Spring Viremia of Carp Virus (SVCV)
There has been long history of disease outbreaks and economic losses in wild and farmed carp species due to SVCV. Formerly thought to be restricted to Europe and Asia, SVCV was detected for the first time in North America from diseased koi at a North Carolina fish farm in 2002, and there were extensive eradication efforts with 135,000 fish euthanized in addition to the ~15,000 that died from...
Virulence of a chimeric recombinant infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus expressing the spring viraemia of carp virus glycoprotein in salmonid and cyprinid fish
Infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) and spring viraemia of carp virus (SVCV) are both rhabdoviruses of fish, listed as notifiable disease agents by the World Organization for Animal Health. Recombinant rhabdoviruses with heterologous gene substitutions have been engineered to study genetic determinants and assess the potential of these...
Emmenegger, Eveline; Biacchesi, Stéphane; Mérour, Emilie; Glenn, Jolene. A; Palmer, Alexander D.; Brémont, Michel; Kurath, Gael Identification of the major capsid protein of erythrocytic necrosis virus (ENV) and development of quantitative real-time PCR assays for quantification of ENV DNA
Viral erythrocytic necrosis (VEN) is a disease of marine and anadromous fish that is caused by the erythrocytic necrosis virus (ENV), which was recently identified as a novel member of family Iridoviridae by next-generation sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis of the ENV DNA polymerase grouped ENV with other erythrocytic iridoviruses from...
Purcell, Maureen K.; Pearman-Gillman, Schuyler; Thompson, Rachel L.; Gregg, Jacob L.; Hart, Lucas M.; Winton, James R.; Emmenegger, Eveline J.; Hershberger, Paul K. Experimental infection of six North American fish species with the North Carolina strain of spring Viremia of Carp Virus
Spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) is a rhabdoviral pathogen associated with disease outbreaks in cultured and wild fish worldwide. Common carp (Cyprinus carpio carp), and koi (C. carpio koi) suffer the highest mortalities from SVCV infections, while other cyprinid fish species have varying susceptibility. Although salmonid fish typically are...
Emmenegger, Eveline J.; Sanders, George E.; Conway, Carla M.; Binkowski, Fred P.; Winton, James R.; Kurath, Gael Molecular identification of erythrocytic necrosis virus (ENV) from the blood of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii)
Viral erythrocytic necrosis (VEN) is a condition affecting the red blood cells of more than 20 species of marine and anadromous fishes in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans. Among populations of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) on the west coast of North America the disease causes anemia and elevated mortality in periodic epizootics....
Emmenegger, Eveline J.; Glenn, Jolene A.; Winton, James R.; Batts, William N.; Gregg, Jacob L.; Hershberger, Paul K. Susceptibility of Koi and Yellow Perch to infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus by experimental exposure
Infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) is a novirhabdoviral pathogen that originated in western North America among anadromous Pacific salmonids. Severe disease epidemics in the late 1970s resulting from IHNV's invasion into farmed Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss in North America, Asia, and Europe emphasized IHNV's ability to adapt to...
Palmer, Alexander D.; Emmenegger, Eveline J. Virulence of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) genotypes Ia, IVa, IVb, and IVc in five fish species.
The susceptibility of yellow perch Perca flavescens, rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha, koi Cyprinus carpio koi, and Pacific herring Clupea pallasii to 4 strains of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV) was assessed. Fish were challenged via intraperitoneal injection with high (1 × 106 plaque-forming units...
Emmenegger, Eveline J.; Moon, Chang Hoon; Hershberger, Paul K.; Kurath, Gael Expression kinetics of key genes in the early innate immune response to Great Lakes viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus IVb infection in yellow perch (Perca flavescens)
The recently discovered strain of viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, VHSV-IVb, represents an example of the introduction of an extremely pathogenic rhabdovirus capable of infecting a wide variety of new fish species in a new host-environment. The goal of the present study was to delineate the expression kinetics of key genes in the innate immune...
Olson, Wendy; Emmenegger, Eveline; Glenn, Jolene; Simchick, Crystal; Winton, Jim; Goetz, Frederick Comparative susceptibility among three stocks of yellow perch, Perca flavescens (Mitchill), to viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus strain IVb from the Great Lakes
The Great Lakes strain of viral haemorrhagic septicaemia virus IVb (VHSV-IVb) is capable of infecting a wide number of naive species and has been associated with large fish kills in the Midwestern United States since its discovery in 2005. The yellow perch, Perca flavescens (Mitchill), a freshwater species commonly found throughout...
Olson, W.; Emmenegger, E.; Glenn, J.; Winton, J.; Goetz, F. Kinetics of viral load and erythrocytic inclusion body formation in pacific herring artificially infected with erythrocytic necrosis virus
Viral erythrocytic necrosis (VEN) is a condition that affects marine and anadromous fish species, including herrings and salmonids, in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Infection is frequently associated with severe anemia and causes episodic mortality among wild and hatchery fish when accompanied by additional stressors; VEN can be presumptively...
Glenn, Jolene A.; Emmenegger, Eveline J.; Grady, Courtney A.; Roon, Sean R.; Gregg, Jacob L.; Conway, Carla M.; Winton, James R.; Hershberger, Paul K.
AquaPathogen X--A template database for tracking field isolates of aquatic pathogens
AquaPathogen X is a template database for recording information on individual isolates of aquatic pathogens and is available for download from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Western Fisheries Research Center (WFRC) website (http://wfrc.usgs.gov). This template database can accommodate the nucleotide sequence data generated in molecular...
Emmenegger, Evi; Kurath, Gael Exxon Valdez oil spill restoration project final report: Prince William Sound Herring disease program (HDP), restoration project 070819
Surveys of pathogens in Pacific herring from 2007 – 2010 indicated that Ichthyophonus, viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus, and erythrocytic necrosis virus are endemic in Prince William Sound and throughout the NE Pacific. Laboratory studies with VHSV indicated that multiple herring stocks are equally susceptible to the resulting disease, Pacific...
Hershberger, Paul; Elliott, Diane G.; Emmenegger, Eveline J.; Hansen, John D.; Kurath, Gael; Winton, James R.; Kocan, Richard; LaPatra, Scott About viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) virus. Potential threat of Great Lakes VHS virus in Western United States
Viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS) is a disease caused by a virus (VHSV). There are different strains of the virus that can infect marine and freshwater fish species, and the different strains may affect species differently. VHSV has recently invaded the Great Lakes, resulting in many large-scale fish die-offs and new regulatory restrictions for...
Bartholomew, Jerri L; Kurath, Gael; Emmenegger, Evi
AquaPathogen X: A Template Database for Tracking Field Isolates of Aquatic Pathogens
Aquatic Pathogen Template Database (AquaPathogen X)
Western Fisheries Science News, June 2015 | Issue 3.6
Genetic Analysis Finds that Erythrocytic Necrosis Virus (ENV) of Pacific Herring is an Iridovirus That May be Closely Related to Erythrocytic Viruses of Reptiles