Dr. Omkar earned his PhD in Aquatic Animal Health from National Pingtung University of Science and Technology (NPUST) in 2015, sponsored by the Taiwan Government. Before this, he completed his Master's degree in Aquaculture and Bachelor's degree in Fisheries Science at the College of Fisheries in Mangalore, India. Following his doctoral studies, he embarked on a one-year postdoctoral position in Taiwan before relocating to Italy in 2016. In Italy, he secured a postdoctoral position at the University of Udine (UNIUD), funded by a research grant from the European Union's ParaFishControl project.

His research interests lie in Fish and Shellfish immunology, Host-pathogen interactions, Transcriptome analysis, and the characterization of fish innate receptors for pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). Presently, he serves as an assistant professor at the International College, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology.

Dr. Omkar's notable contributions to the field include 30 publications in fish and shellfish immunology, as well as receiving prestigious international awards such as young scientist awards, travel grants, and presenting his research findings at renowned international conferences. Over six years, he has accumulated valuable postdoctoral experience in Fish and Shellfish Immunology, along with securing two prestigious research grants from the European Commission. His expertise extends to areas such as fish immunology and vaccine development, further solidifying his standing in the scientific community.

The aquaculture industry is the fastest-growing sector of global aquaculture and is threatened worldwide by viral diseases and bacterial diseases. Therefore, appropriate biosecurity and management measures in aquaculture are important in preventing diseases The general goal of my research is to find better ways to combat infectious diseases in fish and shrimp. One of the most important aims is to understand immunological roles in a direct way to enhance their immunological functions. The laboratory of Dr. Omkar (Laboratory of Aquatic Animal Health, NPUST), is performing research on host-pathogen interactions being the main current focus of my research and development activities. Stimulating the immunity (novel immunostimulants, probiotics) in fish/shrimp is another factor that can help in surviving infectious attacks. Going forward in this direction would provide the best prospects to solve the many challenges that the aquaculture industry is facing concerning health and welfare. This will contribute to the long-term sustainability of aquaculture.

1. Developed Fish Transcriptome platform

Transcriptomic analysis using massively parallel cDNA sequencing (RNA-seq) techniques has commonly been used to understand the pathogenesis of various types of pathogens in aquaculture. This technique has contributed enormously and opened up a new strategy to explore the non-model organism where the reference genome is lacking. Over the past decade, this technology has been used by my research activities to explore the immune status and understanding of many bacterial diseases in fish. Mainly the research emphasized on the infectious agent from bacteria and helped us to understand several aspects of the immune response during infection in the fish. The developed workflow (Figure 1) summarizes the understanding of immune mechanisms in major commercial aquaculture fish species infected by pathogenic bacteria using the transcriptome platform.

1. Established Microbial genomics (Fish pathogenic bacteria) – MinIon Nanopore

This technology generates fast, reliable, portable, long reads and a third-generation sequencing method suitable for future Aquaculture bacteria pathogen epidemiology applications. My research developed the in-house Nanopore technology to investigate aquaculture pathogen identification at the species level of E. anguillarum and E. piscicida from diseased cultured fish in Taiwan. Therefore, with the application genome sequence, this study is in confirmation of species taxonomy considered as group E. anguillarum and E. piscicida. The impact of the unique findings from the genomes of E. anguillarum and E. piscicida will facilitate the investigation of epidemiology, intra-species diagnostic methods, vaccine development and drug treatment for bacterial species.

1. Screening Antimicrobial-resistant gene (AMR) from infected fish/prawns 

Our research indicated that Lactococcus garvieae (LG) isolated from freshwater prawns has already acquired multiple or single antimicrobial-resistant genes (Figure 3). Antibiotic resistance is of serious concern, especially in prawn farming practices and it demands immediate attention. We are now further investigating the genotypic variations in different isolates. This knowledge on understanding LG AMR and genotype will facilitate us to develop a new approach to combat Lactococcus in aquaculture.