More than 40 percent of the American honeybee population died prematurely in 2014, a sharp rise over 2013’s already distressing total. Both in the U.S. and around the world, the honeybee’s devastating decline continues to alarm both environmentalists and farmers, who rely on commercial beekeepers to pollinate nearly a third of all crops on the planet.
“These numbers are unsustainable,” says Amy, a UNLV life sciences researcher who is on the front lines in the war against honeybee pathogens. Her primary target is American foulbrood disease, a bacterial infection responsible for millions of bee deaths each year.
The weapons of choice for Amy and her research team are specific bacteriophages (or “phages” for short) that can be used as a natural way of preventing American foulbrood infestation and hive destruction. A bacteriophage is a virus that infects and replicates within a bacterium.
“We found that if we treated honeybee larvae with these phages they survive almost as if they were never exposed,” she says.
Her research also has spawned Colony Shield, a startup company based in Henderson, Nevada, that has entered into an exclusive licensing partnership with UNLV. The company aims to expeditiously bring products derived from her lab’s discoveries to beekeepers anxious to find a way to save their hives. The stakes are high. Honeybees support nearly $15 billion worth of agricultural industry in the U.S. alone.
American foulbrood disease, or AFB, wreaks havoc when the Paenibacillus larvae bacterium finds its way into the gut of a bee in the larval stage. The deadly microbe eats the developing larva from the inside out until it eventually dies, leaving behind a gooey mess filled with contagious spores. Nurse bees then spread the spores to additional larvae. Eventually, the entire colony collapses.
Current environmental regulations require infected hives to either undergo a costly remediation process or for beekeepers to destroy the hives, bees, and associated equipment by fire. Preventative treatments with antibiotics have shown short-term promise but also leave behind environmentally questionable chemical residues in honey. Such treatment methods have also been shown to produce Paenibacillus strains that quickly developed resistance to the antibiotics, making the treatment ineffective and the bacteria potentially more dangerous in the long term.
Amy’s solution is a natural process that, when administered properly, is showing great success in preventing AFB infection and some success in treating hives that have already been infected. It is also completely safe for bees and humans.
Amy and her research team presented their results to the American Society for Microbiologists. The society awarded its 2015 undergraduate research fellowship to one of Amy’s students, Lucy LeBlanc, for her work identifying and isolating an enzyme that helps facilitate phage therapy by protecting larvae that are already under attack.
While Amy’s lab is doing fundamental research and establishing UNLV’s expertise in the study of phages, UNLV’s startup partner Colony Shield is helping transfer these theoretical insights into a deliverable technology. Currently, Colony Shield is producing freeze-dried phages that beekeepers can add to sugary syrup for nurse bees to distribute around the hive.
“I am a scientist, and I understand the need to let the basic science and applied science inform each other without obscuring the other,” says Amy. “I love biotechnology, and I’m always thinking about real-world applications for this science.”
Her primary goal, she says, is to stop the ravaging effects of the disease. But Amy also hopes to help the beekeeping industry.
“We hope that those who keep bees will find this a successful prevention method to avoid devastation from American Foulbrood,” she says, adding that the economic impact of preventing AFB would be tremendous. “Every hive costs several hundred dollars to set up, and each one not lost to disease means cost savings.”
In addition to leading the UNLV research that has led to a successful startup, Amy has provided 14 students with valuable research opportunities. The research has led to many theses, dissertations, and publications in leading journals — including in the July 2015 Journal of Insect Science. Several students’ names also appear on two patent applications.
Amy’s students have also visited several Clark County elementary, middle, and high schools to teach young children about bees’ significance in maintaining a sustainable food supply. One recent presentation to third graders at Tartan Elementary in North Las Vegas included a demonstration of the “phage dance,” created by LeBlanc to inspire the next generation of microbiologists.
Amy says she’s gratified to see the benefits the research has produced, from student successes to community outreach to the startup launch.
“I’m extremely grateful that both UNLV and Colony Shield have seen the value in supporting a treatment that promises to prevent some of the devastating loss of honeybees in the United States and worldwide,” she says.
Officials at UNLV’s Office of Economic Development are quick to return the compliment.
“We are very excited about this licensing agreement,” said Zachary Miles, associate vice president of economic development. “Penny is an amazing researcher who can have a great impact in this area. Colony Shield is going to be a strategic partner for getting this technology into the global marketplace.”
