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Joy Becker

Joy Becker is a distinguished Australian fish biologist. She was born in Canada and educated at the University of Western Ontario – BSc (Hons) 1999 and the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island - PhD in 2005. Becker was awarded the Governor General of Canada Academic Gold Medal for outstanding scholastic achievement for her doctoral thesis. She has a passion for studying ecologically sensitive freshwater and marine fish species and the need to produce pathogen-free, high protein fish for human consumption.

Research

Early in her career, Becker investigated treatments and control programs for parasites infecting the gills of farmed Pacific and Atlantic salmon. Becker and colleagues developed the first prototype vaccine to show a protective effect against a protozoan parasite in rainbow trout (Article #1). During her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tasmania, Becker discovered a new inflammatory cell never before described in Atlantic salmon (Article #2). The salmon were affected by amoebic gill disease, which is considered the most significant disease to the Australian salmon industry. If left untreated, the gill infection will cause death. Also, Becker and her PhD student, Renee Florent have developed novel drug treatments to treat Atlantic salmon for amoebic gill disease (Article #3, #4).

Since joining the University of Sydney, Becker has focused her research on emerging viral diseases in fish. She has made the discovery that several species of Australian freshwater fish could be threatened by an emerging viral disease called epizootic haematopoietic necrosis (Article #5). Becker and her colleagues have created novel diagnostics tests for fish viruses that cause epidemic mortality events in both farmed and wild fish (Article #6, #7).

Most significantly in 2011, Becker and colleagues discovered a herpesvirus, called Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 that infects mainly goldfish was actually present in Australia (Article 8). Until this point, Australia was considered to be free of this virus. This discovery led to changes in national quarantine policy with several populations of farmed and wild goldfish showing signs of infection.

A stellar female scientist

Becker is internationally recognized as a leader in her field and is a role model for female scientists. Becker is an Associate Editor for the American Fisheries Society’s Journal of Aquatic Animal Health. Also, she sits on the editorial board of the preeminent journal, Preventative Veterinary Medicine, which is currently the 6th leading journal in Veterinary Science.

Outside of university life, Becker has taken two periods of leave from her duties to focus on raising her young children. In her free time, she keenly enjoys wakeboarding, attending high tea and is a connoisseur of fine single malt whiskey.

Publications

Article 1

Rodriguez-Tovar LE, Becker JA, Markham RJF, Speare DJ. Induction time for resistance to Microsporidial Gill Disease caused by Loma salmonae following vaccination of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) with a spore-based vaccine. Fish and Shellfish Immunology, 2006. 21:170-175.

Article 2

Lovy J, Becker JA, Speare DJ, Wadowska DW, Wright GM, Powell MD. Ultrastructural examination of the host cellular response in the gills of Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar, with amoebic gill disease. Veterinary Pathology, 2007; 44:663-671.

Article 3

Florent RL, Becker J, Powell MD. Further development of bithionol therapy as a treatment for amoebic gill disease in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar L. Journal of Fish Diseases, 2009; 32:391-400.

Article 4

Florent RL, Becker JA, Powell MD. Efficacy of bithionol as an oral treatment for amoebic gill disease in Atlantic salmon Salmo salar (L.). Aquaculture, 2007; 270:15-22.

Article 5

Becker JA, Tweedie A, Gilligan D, Asmus M, Whittington RJ. Experimental infection of Australian freshwater fish with Epizootic haematopoietic necrosis virus (EHNV). Journal of Aquatic Animal Health, 2013; 25:66-76.

Article 6

Rimmer AE, Becker JA, Tweedie A, Whittington RJ. Development of a quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assay for the detection of dwarf gourami iridovirus (DGIV) and other megalocytiviruses and comparison with the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) reference PCR protocol.

Article 7

Jaramillo D, Tweedie A, Becker JA, Hyatt A, Crameri S, Whittington RJ. A validated quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay for the detection of ranaviruses (Family Iridoviridae) in fish tissue and cell cultures, using EHNV as a model. Aquaculture, 2012; 356: 186-192.

Article 8

Becker J.A., Tweedie A., Rimmer A., Landos M., Lintermans M., Whittington R.J. 2014. Incursions of Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 in goldfish populations in Australia despite quarantine practices. Aquaculture, 432:53-59.