Ian A.E. Butts

EDUCATION

• 2010 Ph.D., Biology – University of New Brunswick, Canada
• 2006 M.S., Biology – University of New Brunswick, Canada
• 2002 B.S., Marine Biology – University of New Brunswick, Canada

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• October 2022 – Present: Associate Professor (60% Research / 40% Teaching)
• January 2017 – September 2022: Assistant Professor (60% Research / 40% Teaching)
• March 2016 – December 2016 Senior Research Scientist, Technical University of Denmark
• December 2012 – February 2016 Research Scientist, Technical University of Denmark
• December 2010 – December 2012 Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation post-doctoral fellow, University of Windsor

HONORS AND AWARDS

• 2023 United States Aquaculture Society Distinguished Early Career Award
• 2021 Auburn University College of Agriculture Dean’s Research Award
• 2020 Auburn University College of Agriculture Dean’s Grantsmanship Award

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• European Aquaculture Society
• World Aquaculture Society
• Member of the Aquaculture Association of Canada

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

In terms of research, my long-term objective is to support the development of sustainable aquaculture, fisheries management, and conservation biology. To accomplish this I take an interdisciplinary approach to test hypotheses in reproductive biology and physiology of aquatic species, with the ultimate goal of understanding and controlling processes that impact gamete quality and offspring performance. Within this regard our work revolves around three main research themes:

• Applied reproductive physiology: understand and control gametogenesis, gamete physiology, fertilization, and embryonic development for species of commercial importance, and identify factors regulating these processes.
• Gamete cryopreservation: develop cutting-edge techniques to cryopreserve genetic resources (i.e. create a “germplasm repository”) for conservation breeding efforts that may be needed in the future for commercially important or endangered species
• Sexual selection and the evolution of gamete interactions: quantify the relative importance of reproductive traits, sperm competition, and gamete interactions in shaping fertilization dynamics and the evolution of sexual characteristics

RECENT COURSES TAUGHT

• FISH 5210 – Principles of Aquaculture
• FISH 6210 – Principles of Aquaculture
• FISH 5240 – Hatchery Management
• FISH 6240 – Hatchery Management

RECENT PUBLICATIONS (2021-2024)

• Cacot, G., Davis, D.A., LaFrentz, B.R., Liles, M.R., Butts, I.A.E., Shoemaker, C.A., Beck, B.H., Farmer, M., Bruce, T.J. Assessment of dietary yeast-based additives for cultured catfish and tilapia health. Journal of Fish Disease. In Press (Aug 19:e14008. doi: 10.1111/jfd.14008).
• Tackett, V.M., Stoeckel, J.A., Rikard, S., Tarnecki, A., Butts, I.A.E. 2024. Impact of seasonality on the reproductive physiology of diploid and tetraploid eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica Aquaculture 593, 741276
• Golshan, M., Alavi, S.M.H., Hatef, A., Kazori, N., Socha, M., Milla, S., Sokołowska-Mikołajczyk, M., Unniappan, S., Butts, I.A.E., Linhart, O. 2024. Impact of absolute food deprivation on the reproductive system in male goldfish exposed to sex steroids. Journal of Comparative Physiology Part B. 194, 411-426
• Hettiarachchi, D., Alston, V., Bern, L., Al-Armanazi, J., Su, B., Shang, M., Wang, J., Xing, D., Li, S., Litvak, M.K., Dunham, R.A., Butts, I.A.E. 2024. Advancing aquaculture: Production of xenogenic catfish by transplanting blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) and channel catfish (I. punctatus) stem cells into white catfish (Ameiurus catus) triploid fry. PLOS ONE. 19(6):e0302687.doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302687
• James, J., Dahl, S., Teichert-Coddington, D., Kelly, A.M., Creel, J.D., Beck, B.H., Butts, I.A.E., Roy, L.A. 2024. Polyculture of red swamp crawfish Procambarus clarkia and Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei cultured in low salinity water. Aquaculture Reports. 36, 102081
• Tackett, V.M., Montague, H.R., Stoeckel, J.A., Rikard, S., Tarnecki, A., Butts, I.A.E. 2024. Salinity impacts gamete quality in Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica. Aquaculture 589, 740869
• Hess, H., Strader, M.E., Montague, H.R., Bruce, T.J., Aguilar, G., Sørensen, S.R., Jenkins, L., Roy, L., Dunham, R., Butts, I.A.E. 2024. Molecular biomarkers for sperm quality in an economically important fish: Blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus. Aquaculture 579, 740220
• Tuttle, J.T., Bruce, T.J., Butts, I.A.E., Roy, L.A., Abdelrahman, H.A., Beck, B.J., Kelly, A.M. 2023. Investigating the ability of Edwardsiella ictaluri and Flavobacterium covae to persist within commercial catfish pond sediments under laboratory conditions. Pathogens 12(7), 871; https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12070871
• Coogan, M.P., Xing, D., Su, B., Alston, V., Johnson, A., Khan, M., Khalil, K., Elaswad, A., Li, S., Wang, J., Lu, C., Wang, W., Hettiarachchi, D., Shang, M., Hasin, T., Qin, Z., Cone, R., Butts, I.A.E., Dunham, R.A. 2023. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in of masu salmon (Oncorhyncus masou) elongase gene in the melanocortin-4 (mc4r) coding region of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) genome. Transgenic Research 32(4), 251-264
• Montague, H.R., Hess, H., Tackett, M., Britt, S.L., Lawson, L.L., Aguilar, G., Jenkins, L.E., Roy, L., Holland, L.W., Litvak, M.K., Dunham, R., Butts, I.A.E. 2023. In vitro fertilization with frozen-thawed blue, Ictalurus furcatus, sperm and implications for gene banking. Aquaculture 574, 739611 
• Hettiarachchi, D., Alston, V., Gurbatow, J., Hess, H.N., Su, B., Johnson, A., Coogan, M., Wang, J., Xing, D., Li, S., Creamer, D., Zadmajid, V., Butts, I.A.E., Dunham, R.A. 2023. Effects of seasonality for optimization of germ cell extraction from mature blue catfish. North American Journal of Aquaculture 85(2), 108-115 
• Tuttle, J.T., Bruce, T.J., Abdelrahman, H.A., Roy, L.A., Butts, I.A.E., Beck, B.J., Kelly, A.M. 2023. Persistence of a Wild-Type Virulent Aeromonas hydrophila Isolate in Pond Sediments from Commercial Catfish Ponds: A Laboratory Study. Veterinary Sciences 10(3), 236; https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci10030236
• Hettiarachchi, D., Alston, V., Bern, L., Su, B., Shang, M., Wang, J., Xing, D., Li, S., Dunham, R.A., Butts, I.A.E. 2023. Maximizing colonization and proliferation of blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) donor stem cells for creation of xenogenic catfish: Identifying the best host age of triploid channel catfish (I. punctatus). Aquaculture 571, 739400
• Politis, S.N., Benini, E., Miest, J.J., Engrola, S., Sørensen, S.R., Syropoulou, E., Butts, I.A.E, Tomkiewicz J. 2023. First assessment of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics affecting survival, growth, and gene expression of European eel larvae. Aquaculture Research. 2023, 1260967, https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/1260967
• Aguilar, G., Sakmar, J., Nicholls, A., Litvak, M.K., Hess, H.N., Bruce, T.J., Montague, H.R., Kelly. A., Roy, L., Bernal, M.A., Politis, S.P., Butts, I.A.E. 2023. Development of intensive indoor rearing strategies for largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) during critical early life history stages: Effects of temperature and genetic strain. Aquaculture 570, 739350
• Hernández, D.P., Abdelrahman, H.A., Galkanda-Arachchige, H.S.C., Kelly, A.M, Butts, I.A.E., Davis D.A., Beck B.H., Roy, L.A. 2023. Evaluation of aqueous magnesium concentration on performance of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) cultured in low salinity water of west Alabama. Aquaculture 565, 739133
• Coogan, M., Alston, V., Su, B., Khalil, K., Elaswad, A., Khan, M., Johnson, A., Xing, D., Li, S., Wang, J., Lu, C., Page-McCaw, P., Chen, W., Michel, M., Wang, W., Hettiarachchi, D., Hasin, T., Butts, I.A.E., Cone, R.D., Dunham, R.A. 2022. Improved growth and high inheritance of melanocortin-4 receptor (mc4r) mutation in channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, using CRISPR/Cas-9. Marine Biotechnology 24, 843-85
• Hettiarachchi, D., Alston, V., Shang, M., Wang, J., Xing, D., Li, S., Bern, L., Coogan, M., Johnson, A., Hasin, T., Wang, W., Lu, C., Dunham, R.A., Butts, I.A.E. 2022. Producing xenogenic channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus with cryopreserved testes and ovarian tissues of blue catfish, I. furcatus. Aquaculture 561, 73869
• Liu, B., Wen, H., Yang, J., Li, X., Li, G., Zhang, J., Xu, S., Butts, I.A.E., He, F.  2022. Hypoxia affects HIF-1/LDH-A signaling pathway by methylation modification and transcriptional regulation in Japanese flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). Biology, 11, 1233. https://doi.org/10.3390/biology11081233
• Wang, H., Montague, H.R., Hess, H.N., Zhang, Y., Aguilar, G.L., Dunham, R.A., Butts, I.A.E., Wang, X. 2022. Transcriptome analysis reveals key gene expression changes in blue catfish sperm in response to cryopreservation. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 23, 7618. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms2314761
• Wang, H., Su, B., Butts, I.A.E., Dunham, R.A., Wang, X. 2022. Chromosome-level assembly and annotation of the blue catfish Ictalurus furcatus, an aquaculture species for hybrid catfish reproduction, epigenetics, and heterosis studies. GigaScience, 11, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1093/gigascience/giac070
• Coogan, M., Alston, V., Su, B., Khalil, K., Elaswad, A., Khan, M., Simora, R.M.C., Johnson, A., Xing, D., Li, S., Wang, J., Lu, C., Wang, W., Hettiarachchi, D., Hasin, T., Terhune, J., Butts, I.A.E., Dunham, R.A. 2022. CRISPR/Cas-9 induced knockout of myostatin gene improves growth and disease resistance in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). Aquaculture 557, 738290
• Sganga, D.E., Dahlke, F.T., Sørensen, S.R., Butts, I.A.E., Tomkiewicz, J., Mazurais, D., Servili, A., Bertolini, F., Politis, S.N. 2022. CO₂ induced seawater acidification impacts survival and development of European eel embryos. PLoS ONE 17(4): e0267228. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.026722
• Syropoulou, E., Benini, E., Sørensen, S.R., Butts, I.A.E., Tomkiewicz, J., Politis, S.N. 2022. Early and abrupt salinity reduction impacts ontogeny in European eel larval culture. Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 48: 355–366
• Koumpiadis, P., Sganga, D., Politis, SN., Gallego, V., Butts, I.A.E., Asturiano, J., Batjakas, I., Tomkiewicz, J. 2021. Sperm production and quality in European eel (Anguilla anguilla) in relation to hormonal treatment. Reproduction in Domestic Animals 56: 1497-1505
• Abualreesh, M.H., Myers, J.N., Gurbatow, J., Johnson, A., Xing, D., Wang, J., Li, S., Coogan, M., Vo, K., El Husseini, N., Dunham, R.A., Butts, I.A.E. 2021. Development of an effective cryopreservation protocol for blue catfish oogonia. North American Journal of Aquaculture 83: 336-345
• Gazsi, G., Butts, I.A.E., Zadmajid, V., Ivánovics, B., Ruffilli, L., Urbányi, B., Csenki, Z., Müller, T. 2021. Ovarian inseminated sperm impacts spawning success in zebrafish, Danio rerio (Hamilton, 1822) even in the absence of a male stimulus. Theriogenology 172: 315-321
• Nichols, Z.G., Zadmajid, V., Dalal, V.B., Stoeckel, J.A., Wayman, W.R., Butts, I.A.E. 2021. Reproductive aspects of freshwater unionid mussel sperm: Seasonal dynamics, cell quantification, and male-to male variability. Animal Reproduction Science 230, 106768
• Alavi, S.M.H., Hatel, A., Butts, I.A.E., Bondarenko, O., Cosson, J., Babiak. I. 2021. Some recent data on sperm morphology and motility kinematic in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.). Fish Physiology and Biochemistry 47(2): 327-338
• Hardy, R.S., Zadmajid, V., Butts, I.A.E., Litvak, M.K. 2021. Growth, survivorship, and predator avoidance capability of larval shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) in response to delayed feeding. PLOS ONE 16(3): e0247768. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247768
• Nichols, Z.G., Rikard, S., Alavi, S.M.H., Walton, W.C., Butts, I.A.E. 2021. Regulation of sperm motility signaling in Eastern oyster spawning naturally in seawater with low salinity. PLOS ONE 16(3): e0243569. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0243569
• Politis, S.N., Syropoulou, E., Benini, E., Bertolini, F., Sørensen, S.R., Miest, J.J., Butts, I.A.E., Tomkiewicz, J. 2021.  Performance thresholds of hatchery produced European eel larvae reared at different salinity regimes. Aquaculture 539, 736651
• Casey, P., Zadmajid, V., Butts, I.A.E., Sørensen, S.R., Litvak, M.K. 2021. Influence of temperature on growth and survival of juvenile winter flounder reared under continuous light. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society 52: 204-215
• Abualreesh, M.H., Myers, J.N., Gurbatow, J., Johnson, A., Xing, D., Wang, J., Li, S., Coogan, M., Vo, K., El Husseini, N., Dunham, R.A., Butts, I.A.E. 2021. Effects of antioxidants and anti-freeze proteins on cryopreservation of blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus) spermatogonial stem cells. Aquaculture 531, 735966