AquaPATH Lab

JCU AquaPATH, at JCU Townsville, is the only NATA accredited laboratory approved for the detection of viruses located in North Queensland. We are approved by Biosecurity QLD for testing for WSSV. We‘re in the Tropics to support the development of Tropical Aquaculture.

JCU AquaPATH investigates ways to reduce losses due to disease in tropical aquaculture production systems. We do this by providing rapid turnaround molecular analysis to detect pathogens of aquaculture species i.e. we conduct qPCR testing to detect aquatic viruses  and other pathogens that impact on production. This includes commercially important crustaceans, finfish, and iconic tropical species including giant tiger prawns, banana prawns, barramundi and tropical grouper species.

Services are provided to ad-hoc requests or within structured projects with specific research outputs. We can work with nutritionists, geneticists and other research disciplines to improve the health of your stock. We don’t just want to tell you what pathogens are in your stock. We want to help you understand pathogens and manage and limit their impact.

All of our people are tertiary qualified tropical aquaculture specialists, passionate about providing industry with practical solutions. Our staff are research capable. We can apply our scientific knowledge to respond to a new issue and we can implement new assays without waiting for a commercial supplier to develop one. Our value proposition, unlike other providers, is that we are embedded within the globally recognised aquaculture and environmental research team at James Cook University.