Opening the Black Box of fish vaccines

A new review article published in prestigious Reviews in Aquaculture (IF 13.8), one of the highest-ranked journals in aquaculture and fish sciences, summarizes current knowledge on the variable efficacy of fish vaccines under real farming conditions. Researchers from the T. Korytář laboratory describe fish vaccinology as a “Black Box,” where protective outcomes arise from complex interactions between host biology, environmental stressors, and pathogen diversity that are not yet fully understood at a mechanistic level. The study proposes a shift toward a predictive “White Box” framework that would enable a better mechanistic understanding and more accurate prediction of immune responses across diverse conditions. This concept has major implications for the future direction of vaccine research and evaluation, as well as for regulatory frameworks and legislation, making it highly relevant not only for academic research and development but also for practical application and the aquaculture industry.