This research proposal attempts to take advantage of the tremendous biotechnological advancement of the past decade to increase the production of the farm-raised fish by reducing their growth cycle from egg to market size. BioPath attempts to develop an oral delivery system for recombinant salmon growth hormone as an effective alternative to the current methods of parenteral injections (ip or im) and bath immersion. This project deals with basic biochemical and physiological determinants for the transport of intact protein molecules from the gastrointestinal (GI) tract into the circulation, specifically, this project is to examine factors that affect the lymphatic uptake of an intact protein molecule from the GI tract, so the transport of intact protein molecule can be enhanced. They can thus modify the protein molecule accordingly. In this proposal, they propose to utilize the whole fish gut instead of the second intestinal segment of an agastric fish (or its equivalent of a gastric fish) for protein transport by modifying the protein molecule in such a way that its absorption in the GI tract mimics the fat absorption in fish.
