Largemouth bass producers may soon have a new vaccine for a common pathogen affecting the unusually death-prone fish species. Auburn University researchers are working to lower the fish’s near 80% mortality rate and expand cultivation of the lucrative species.

The team of hatchery scientists from the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station’s E. W. Shell Fisheries Center was awarded $300,000 by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to develop an immersion-based vaccine for Aeromonas spp., common bacteria that can cause internal swelling and hemorrhaging gills in the fish.

Largemouth bass sells for more than twice the price of rainbow trout and five times that of catfish, but the mortality rate is a deterrent to producers. Only 71 farms are producing food-size largemouth bass nationwide, according to the most recent USDA Census of Aquaculture. Researchers see an opportunity to help producers expand cultivation by mitigating this common disease.

“There’s a big push toward bass culture right now,” said Timothy Bruce, assistant professor at Auburn and the grant’s director.

Cultivation of largemouth bass as a food fish species is relatively new, Bruce said. Much of the science of studying the species has yet to be developed. One challenge is that before the research team can begin to develop and test a vaccine, they must first create a scientifically replicable method to infect the fish with Aeromonas in a controlled environment.

“We have to figure out how to make the fish sick in a way that mimics the natural environment before we can begin to test how largemouth bass might respond to a vaccine,” Bruce said.

The traditional method of infection in a lab setting is to inject the fish with the pathogen, but the result of infecting the fish in an unnatural way is a fish that gets sick in an unnatural way. This makes it difficult to test a vaccine meant to work in the natural environment.

The team turned to a fin-clip immersion challenge method of infecting fish originally developed at Auburn for the cultivation of catfish. This initial stage of research is in many ways the most impactful. By perfecting and sharing the process of infection, future researchers at other institutions will be able to develop other non-antibiotic treatments that will benefit the aquaculture industry.

“We’re going to be able to get a lot of answers for the academic community by understanding the response of these fish,” said Bruce.

The team’s next step is to develop the vaccine. To be commercially viable, the vaccine must be immersion based. Rather than injecting each individual fish with the vaccine, producers will simply be able to add it to the fish’s tank where it will be ingested.

The vaccine will also have an important ecological benefit. There are currently only three FDA-approved antibiotics for fish production, according to Bruce. Overreliance on the few approved antibiotics could lead bacteria to develop resistance, and getting FDA approval of new antibiotics is an expensive, years-long process.

“It’s a struggle to get approval,” said Bruce. “There’s a sense that what we have is pretty much what we have.”

However, not all vaccines require full FDA approval. Largemouth bass producers can work with their local veterinarian to develop an autogenous vaccine to treat only the fish at their facility. This process could ease reliance on antibiotics and reduce the danger of antibiotic resistance.

This research study is part of a concerted effort by scientists at the E. W. Shell Fisheries Center to expand the cultivation of Largemouth bass in the U. S., including a similar ongoing study of rearing bass during the larval stage.

Bruce and colleagues have plans to quickly disseminate their findings to the aquaculture industry through workshops, newsletters and seminars. The team will also work in coordination with Auburn’s Alabama Fish Farming Center in Greensboro, Alabama, to host workshops and demonstrations for local producers.

The two-year project also involves Dr. Ian Butts at Auburn University. Dr. Julio García and Dr. Benjamin LaFrentz at the USDA Agricultural Research Service Aquatic Animal Health Research Unit in Auburn are also supporting the research.

Cameron (Cam) Humphrey ’19 and the Auburn University College of Agriculture first met on what might be called something of a blind date.

Like many modern couples, the pair first became acquainted online, when Birmingham-native Humphrey received an unsolicited recruiting email from the College that caught his attention. Undecided about his exact college future and a little intrigued, he decided on a visit to learn more. From there, it was love at first sight.

“I like to say Auburn and the College of Agriculture sort of found me rather than the other way around,” Humphrey recalled. “I had no background, experience or real interest in the agricultural field. But I was eager to learn more about it, so I decided to take a visit.

“I can remember how at-home everyone made me feel,” he added, “and specifically, how they showcased that a major in agriculture could be both a rich experience and could blossom into an incredible future post-college.”

Humphrey served as president of Ag Ambassadors and majored in agricultural business and economics with a minor in political science. As a senior, he spent four weeks in the Washington office of Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers through an internship funded by the Alabama Farmers Agriculture Foundation, learning first-hand how agricultural policy is determined at the federal level.

As Humphrey’s years at Auburn neared an end, learning more about public policy and environmental issues helped focus his career plans on a long-held area of concern. “Attending law school and becoming a civil rights advocate has always been an interest of mine,” he said. “That interest grew as my knowledge of the issues happening in the South expanded.”

Though perhaps not a traditional course for an agriculture graduate, it was one Humphrey felt well prepared to undertake thanks to his Auburn education.

“My biggest takeaway from my time at Auburn was how the College of Ag prepared me both during and after college,” he explained. “I came to the college with no background or real vision as to what I would utilize the degree for afterwards.

“But the people and resources in the college helped me realize very early-on that anything is possible with such a degree,” he continued. “As we like to say, ‘We do the work that makes the world work.’ And there are countless ways in which that work can be done. That is what makes the College of Agriculture so special.”

With a firm background in public policy in hand and law school on his radar, Humphrey headed north to pursue a Yale University master’s degree in environmental policy analysis and environmental justice.

At Yale, Humphrey was a leader of the student interest group Roots, which is focused on the advancement and resilience of students of the African diaspora. He participated in the graduate student senate, Title IX Working Group, and was one of the founders of the Yale Wildland Firefighters Rights Initiative. He also worked with Race Forward, a New York City-based nonprofit that advances ethnic and racial minority rights.

“Yale is where I immersed myself in the study of environmental law and began to deeply understand how race and class shaped land use policy,” Humphrey noted. “I began to understand environmental justice and its connections to civil rights law. I dug deeper into my interests — particularly around the plight of Black farmers and Black land ownership in the South. I learned to question everything.”

He was also heavily influenced by his work with and mentorship by then-Yale professor Marianne Engelman-Lado, one of the country’s leading experts on environmental civil rights and later named the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s deputy general counsel for environmental initiatives.

His commitment to these issues continued to take shape at his next stop, as a Philanthropy Fellow at the University of California-Berkeley and the David and Lucille Packard Foundation. The foundation provides grants to non-profit organizations with a mission revolving around its three pillars of “building just societies, protecting and restoring the natural world and investing in families and communities.”

“As a worker at the Packard Foundation, I had the great fortune to work with and support Black grassroots organizations across the rural South fighting for environmental justice,” Humphrey said. “I got to sit with community leaders in rural Alabama as they discussed the many challenges their communities faced.”

In these experiences Humphrey found his purpose — at the nexus of law, policy and philanthropy.

And it did not go unnoticed. His next destination will be law school at Columbia University as a 2024 recipient of the prestigious Marshall-Motley Scholarship, sponsored by the Legal Defense Fund (LDF).

The scholarships are named in honor of Thurgood Marshall, the famous civil rights attorney, LDF founder and first African American justice on the U.S. Supreme Court, along with iconic civil rights litigator and first black female federal judge Constance Baker Motley. The program is “committed to endow the South with the next generation of civil rights lawyers trained to provide legal advocacy of unparalleled excellence in the pursuit of racial justice.”

Scholars are afforded a full tuition scholarship for law school, a living stipend, summer internships with national and regional civil rights organizations with offices in the South focused on racial justice, a two-year postgraduate fellowship focused on a racial justice practice in the South; and access to special training sponsored by the LDF.

Humphrey said the scholarship is a final piece of the puzzle in preparing him to return to the South as a civil rights advocate, enabling him to start realizing the long-held goal that began to take rough shape in the Auburn College of Agriculture and has matured through his varied experiences since: to make a difference for those that years of misguided or unjust law and public policy have left behind.

seasoned researcher and administrator in the Auburn University College of Agriculture and one of the top 2% of entomologists in the world got her start in the field because of the kindness of a neighbor.

Nannan Liu grew up in Beijing in a community full of scientists.

“My parents are biologists,” she explained. “There, you live with the institute. Like our campus here, but we all lived in the institute. Which meant that when I was younger, I was exposed to all these scientists like my parents. And my neighbor was a well-known professor of entomology.”

Liu recalled how her neighbor would show newly acquired specimens to the children in their community. It captured her attention, and entomology has held it ever since.

Today Liu is an endowed professor in the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology at Auburn.

Despite an early interest in the field, Liu did not necessarily set her sights on a career in agriculture. In China, application to college worked differently than it does in the U.S. Students would take an entrance exam not unlike the ACT or SAT, and universities could select students based on their scores. China Agricultural University visited Liu’s province and set its sights on her.

“I really did not have any idea about China Agricultural University, as it is known today,” said the alumna of the school. “At the time, I selected some others I wanted to go to.”

Fortunately, that seed planted early by her neighbor blossomed into a passion. After graduation, Liu worked a short time for the Ministry of Agriculture — “kind of like the Environmental Protection Agency here,” she explained — before she was sent to Queensland Department of Agriculture and Primary Industries in Queensland, Australia.

“I thought maybe I was done with studies,” she reflected. “But I realized, I needed more knowledge. I just thought, ‘I need to study.’”

So, she came to the U.S. for a Ph.D. program at Cornell University. And she never left.

At Cornell, Liu began the research that would carry her through her career. Her specialty is in insect molecular toxicology, or the study of insect resistance to insecticides and poisons at a molecular level.

It is a crucial field of study for our world: How do we treat disease carrying insects or pests that affect our food supply? Why do they resist treatments?

Her work at Cornell began this research with house flies, looking at the mechanism of gene function. She then went to Rochester Medical School for a postdoc, learning new-to-her research techniques before returning to Cornell for further study of gene regulation.

She came to Auburn as an assistant professor in 1997 with a 75% research and 25% teaching appointment. Her research with the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station has flourished in her more than 25 years at Auburn, something she credits to her department.

“I like research here,” she said simply. “We are provided what we need to be successful in our research. But it is also very collaborative, and the administration is very supportive of faculty.”

Liu joined the administration for the first time in 2014, serving her first three years as chair of the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology. The position has a limit of two three-year terms and she was elected chair again for another three years from 2017-2020.

“By that time, I looked at my development, my achievements, my research parts, my group, my student and postdoc, all that,” she said. “Everyone was very independent. I saw the opportunity to develop myself and to bring our two disciplines of entomology and plant pathology together.

“When you are the professor or just a researcher, you may be more focused on your own research, right? However, when you are the chair, you communicate with everybody. And you have the opportunity for learning, for new things.”

In her time as chair, the department’s faculty size doubled.

“Dr. Liu was a kind and considerate department chair who led by example,” said Arthur Appel, current associate dean for research and Liu’s predecessor as chair of the department. “While chair, she had a full and active lab group, wrote numerous research publications, applied for grants and taught her courses.” Liu later served as interim head of the Department of Poultry Science in 2023 and 2024.

Liu’s lab remains a stronghold of research in the college. Their study of the mechanisms of gene function has looked at flies, bed bugs and now mosquitos, asking how genes are regulated in an organism in response to chemicals, and what happens if the organism loses those genes.

She is uncommonly proud of the graduate students she has advised over the years, and the respect and admiration they have for her is clear. All her past Ph.D. students have given her their tassels upon graduation, which she proudly displays on a bulletin board in her office.

Her newest project, funded by the National Institute of Health, is looking at the olfactory system of mosquitos, asking how scent plays a part in what draws mosquitos to people, and what happens if you knock out the mosquito’s olfactory response.

Mosquito-borne diseases, in particular malaria, are among the leading causes of human deaths worldwide. In past decades, massive spraying of insecticides greatly limited these diseases and even eradicated them in a few countries. However, a wide-spread increase in mosquitoes’ resistance to insecticides is now resulting in outbreaks of mosquito-related diseases, including malaria, around the world.

The long-term goals of this research are to better understand the molecular mechanisms and regulatory pathways that control the mosquito’s response to insecticides and to use these findings to inform the development of insecticides that not only control mosquito proliferation but also thwart insecticide resistance, ultimately reducing the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases in humans.

“That is mainly what we still work on,” she said. “We try to thoroughly understand the regulation pathways involved in resistance, yet this pathway has not been reported before. Therefore, we want to pinpoint and eventually offer a comprehensive picture about resistance, how it is regulated at the molecular level. With this comprehension, we envision developing a novel method to block this pathway, preventing insects from developing resistance.

“The ultimate goal, of course, is to prevent mosquito bites. But we’re approaching this with the broader perspective — resistance studies. That’s really what I’ve been doing since the ‘80s.”

The work didn’t stop as Liu stepped in to serve as interim head of the Department of Poultry Science, a move she considered a perfect segue for her, as the house flies she started her studies in are commonly found in poultry farms.

“Dr. Liu is one of the top 2% of entomology researchers worldwide, has been named a Fellow of the Entomological Society of America, and is an internationally recognized insect toxicologist,” Appel said. “Her research is both basic and applied and uses the latest cutting-edge methods in molecular biology and neurophysiology. She is an excellent colleague and outstanding scientist.”

For Liu, it’s just all in a day’s work.

“I don’t want to just be comfortable,” she said. “And there are so many questions still to answer.”

y the end of her first semester, she had joined the masses in the College of Agriculture’s animal sciences pre-vet major. However, as Thompson began thinking about career options outside of veterinarian school, a friend suggested that she consider switching her major to poultry science. With that suggestion, Thompson thought back to her uncle’s poultry farm and the stable income it provided for his family, despite tremendous hard work and sacrifice. The promise of a stable future in Alabama’s booming poultry industry, combined with her desire to be a veterinarian, was a perfect recipe for Thompson’s future in avian medicine.

n June 2024, Alabama Extension made a big investment in Alabama’s poultry industry by naming Thompson as the system’s first veterinarian solely dedicated to poultry. Thompson first learned about the position while discussing some thoughts that she had on curriculum improvements within the Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine.

In a post-graduation survey, she expressed her desire for veterinary students to have more opportunities to learn about avian medicine. Thompson said it is imperative to provide foundational knowledge to small-animal veterinarians who may see a family’s beloved pet chicken in the same visit as the family dog.

“The commercial poultry industry is incredibly important to Alabama,” Thompson said. “There are also families raising small flocks who have a vested interest in their animals and want what is best for them. With pressing issues — such as the ongoing threat of avian influenza and judicious antibiotic use in food-producing animals — it is so important for all veterinary students to be equipped with the knowledge to make the right decisions when treating chickens. It takes all of us working together to preserve the integrity and the safety of our food supply, from the backyard to the broiler house.”

This is where Thompson knows she will find herself — serving as a bridge between university research and all facets of the poultry industry.

“This position is for the integrated industry, producers, general practitioners, backyard flock owners and everyone in between,” Thompson said.

“We need to show that what we do at Auburn University is relevant and important to people in all areas of the poultry industry in Alabama.”

Thompson said coming back to Auburn to teach in some capacity was a life goal of hers. Both Thompson and her husband, Andrew, are in the poultry industry. She takes credit for convincing him that it is an industry worth joining.

“I told him that people are always going to eat chicken,” Thompson said. “Thanks to the help of some amazing poultry science faculty, Andrew was able to get a poultry science degree in two years, after a shift from education. He is working in poultry sales right now, but he spent his first 10 years in live production. This industry means a lot to our family.”

As an alumna of Auburn’s Colleges of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Thompson said she is thrilled to return to the university and to have the opportunity to serve the Alabama poultry industry in this new role.

“As someone who grew up in Opp, where the integrated poultry industry is so important to so many families, I can think of no better way for Auburn to introduce this new position to the state than through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System,” Thompson said. “Our poultry farmers are the heartbeat of our industry. Without them, the protein we currently provide for consumers would not exist.”

In addition to serving as a bridge between Auburn research and the integrated poultry industry, Thompson is looking forward to mentoring students who are pursuing a path that is similar to hers. “My goal is to help poultry science and veterinary students open doors for their futures,” Thompson said. “I want to encourage them, connect them with individuals who can help them reach their personal or professional goals and, ultimately, help them make connections prior to graduation, so they are prepared to enter the work force. I am so excited about mentoring the next generation of poultry veterinarians.”

hompson’s position showcases a unique partnership among Alabama Extension, the College of Veterinary Medicine and the Alabama Agricultural Experiment System. Alabama Extension Director Mike Phillips said Thompson will make immediate impacts in the poultry industry in Alabama.

“Avian influenza has been, and continues to be, a serious concern throughout the poultry industry,” Phillips said. “Dr. Thompson’s poultry disease expertise will be a tremendous asset to the state’s poultry industry, and she will excel in her role educating and updating stakeholders.”

Calvin Johnson, dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, said the college has taken a major step in hiring Thompson.

“Dr. Thompson has excellent working relationships within the poultry industry,” Johnson said. “She will be in an excellent position to integrate current trends in poultry health with production systems, research programs and veterinary education.”

Thompson’s family is all in when it comes to the poultry industry. Her children point out poultry houses on the side of the road, and she even dresses them as chickens for Halloween. Her goals as the Alabama Extension poultry veterinarian are lofty, but she is intent on reaching them.

“You will not find anyone who is more passionate about the Alabama poultry industry than I am,” Thompson said. “I want ‘send those samples to Auburn’ to be the first thing that comes to mind for Alabama poultry growers. I also want to hear, ‘I want to pursue a poultry medicine residency at Auburn.’”

Thompson believes that Alabama’s poultry industry, in partnership with Auburn, has the resources to build a reputation that will rival neighboring states’ universities. She wants Auburn’s name to be high on the list when veterinary students consider avian medicine specialties.

“I want to be at the forefront of earning that reputation,” Thompson said.

It’s our affectionate name for our in-house archives. And truthfully, we’ve been sitting on a little historical gold mine down here. We have everything from old course catalogs (and we mean old; the oldest one we have dates to 1896) to boxes of pictures, rolls of film, and copies of our own previous Ag Illustrated publication.

Want a peek? We’re ready to share our treasures.

The Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station at Alabama Polytechnic Institute published a bulletin in June 1909 titled “Facing the Boll Weevil Problem in Alabama.” Written by entomologist W.E. Hinds, it was published by the Post Publishing Company in Opelika.

Inside are rather remarkable photos of egg, grub and adult boll weevils, as well as a map showing the advance of the boll weevil through the Southern U.S.

In total, the publication is more than 20 pages outlining how the boll weevil had become a problem up to that point in history, how to recognize a boll weevil, steps in the culture of cotton for the control of boll weevils, identification of the insects commonly mistaken for the boll weevil, and more.

Our copy has a faded stamp on the cover from the State Library of Massachusetts, State House, Boston, dated Dec. 5, 1917. Seems it’s been a piece of history worth saving for a long, long time.

Emma Welch is a natural storyteller.

The Avon Park, Florida, native lends her talents to the Office of Communications & Marketing in the College of Agriculture, where one story shared was that of her Great Aunt Helen Albright’s carrot cake.

“I’ve grown up eating it my whole life,” Welch said. “She always made it for the monthly church potluck, and I remember it was always a race to see if you could get a slice because everyone loved it so much.”

The carrot cake recipe is one of dozens in the Welch Family Cookbook, compiling recipes from just about every Welch family member.

“It’s very simple with no pictures or anything, and my dad’s mom is the one who got with family and helped make it happen,” Welch said. “It was created long before I was born, but I thankfully have my own copy now because my grandmom had extras.

“In my opinion the coolest part though is the beginning of the book that includes a family history of the Welches, telling about how they first lived in Texas and how they ended up in a small Florida town.”

These are true family recipes, lovingly crafted by women like Great Aunt Helen.

“The cake is definitely a labor of love,” Welch said. “You have to grate your own carrots — she’s never let you use pre-shredded. You also absolutely have to use the brands she puts. Don’t ask me why. I think it’s just the law. She’d tell it wouldn’t come out right if you didn’t.”

Welch just recently got her hands on her own copy of the family cookbook, and her first attempt at the recipe marked her first taste of the cake in several years.

“Aunt Helen passed about a year ago now, so it’s so special that I get to share one of her many recipes with so many people,” she said. “I hope anyone who makes it enjoys it as much as my family does.”

For the cake

1. Sift flour, then measure again. Mix dry ingredients in sifter, then sift together three times.
2. Add oil and blend into cake mixture.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well.
4. Lastly, add carrots and blend well.
5. Pour into two greased and floured 9” pans or a 9×13” pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes for layers, or until done, or 60 minutes for the single pan.

For the topping

1. Blend cream cheese, powdered sugar, margarine and vanilla.
2. Add coconut and nuts and mix well. Spread over top and sides of cake after it has cooled.