SDSU researchers work toward next-generation PRRS vaccine

April 2, 2008 — 

South Dakota State University (SDSU) research is leading the way toward an updated PRRS vaccine to help swine producers around the globe.

"We are trying to make the next generation of the PRRS vaccine," research assistant professor Ying Fang said. "It will be a genetically engineered PRSSV vaccine."

Much of SDSU's work with PRRS is continuing now through the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Vaccinology, formed in 2004 as one of the governor's 2010 research centers.

Fang, a molecular biologist who led a U.S. team of researchers to investigate a PRRS outbreak in China in December 2007, said SDSU is at the forefront of research to update the vaccine. One focus of SDSU research is on how the PRRS virus sabotages the animal's defense systems.

"We want to identify which genes are responsible for shutting down the host's protective immunity," she said, adding that the information will help build a better vaccine against PRRS.

One technique the research team is using employs "reverse genetics." That is, the team has cloned the virus and is using that clone to manipulate the viral genomes.

Source:
SDSU Press Release, March 31, 2008