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Foundation Awards $60,000 to Researchers

March 26, 2014 — AASV Staff

During the AASV Foundation’s annual luncheon in Dallas, Texas, foundation president Dr Daryl Olsen announced the selection of research proposals for funding in 2014. The selections were the inaugural awards made under the foundation’s new submission, review, and reporting guidelines, which were implemented in conjunction with a substantial increase in funding designated for research. Olsen reported that $60,000 was awarded to 3 projects to be conducted over the coming year.

A grant of $30,000 was awarded to support a proposal submitted by Dr James Lowe at the University of Illinois. Lowe and fellow investigators will be studying the effects of cross-fostering strategy on the immune system, microbiome and lifetime growth in pigs with minimal disease loads. By examining the impact of the periparturient acquisition of non-inherited factors on piglet health and performance, their goal is to help shape management practices that improve host robustness in the face of disease challenge.

Dr Darwin Reicks at the Swine Vet Center in St. Peter, Minn, was awarded a grant of $25,000 to study porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) shedding and contamination potential from infected boars. The project goal is to determine if PEDV can be transmitted in boar semen and if the virus is a fecal contaminant or the result of systemic infection or cellular trafficking from an intestinal infection.

A grant of $5000 was awarded to Dr Cate Dewey at the University of Guelph, to fund a proposal targeted at reducing pathogen spread during farm feed delivery. One-page briefs will be prepared for major swine pathogens as well as a quick-reference chart summarizing the information. The materials will be peer-reviewed and ultimately shared with AASV members for distribution to producers, feed company personnel and others.

In addition to coordinating the revision of the foundation’s proposal submission and review guidelines, Dr. Peggy Anne Hawkins chaired the scientific subcommittee responsible for reviewing and scoring the record number of proposals received for consideration. Hawkins joins the foundation in thanking Drs Todd Distad, Bill DuBois, Gene Erickson, Eva Jablonski, and Bob Morrison for their service on the subcommittee.

When compared to past years, the $60,000 awarded represents a dramatic increase in the amount disbursed for research, and is a direct result of the $100,000 matching-funds gift designated for research that was provided by MVP Laboratories and MJ Biologics at the 2013 fundraising auction.

An overview of past and current projects funded by the foundation is available at www.aasv.org/foundation/research.htm. The foundation will issue its next call for research proposals in the fall of 2014.

AASV staff contributed to or researched this story. For more information about the AASV, please visit http://www.aasv.org/.