Date of Award
5-2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Honors Thesis
Department
Chemistry
First Advisor
Mike Trombley
Second Advisor
Shelly Etnier
Abstract
This review aims to shed light on a significant ecological deficit and its implications for the future of science and medicine. Sharks possess a uniquely adaptive, cancer-resistant, and evolutionarily refined immune system with transformative biomedical potential, making their conservation a scientific and medical imperative. We are losing something medically irreplaceable, and we don’t even fully understand it yet. Shark conservation is a pressing scientific imperative because sharks are ecologically essential and represent an irreplaceable biomedical resource.
Recommended Citation
Bhagat, Reesha, "Shark Immunology and Its Biomedical Potential: Evolution, Innovation, and the Imperative of Conservation" (2026). Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection. 822.
https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/ugtheses/822