BIVI Announces 2016 Swine Research Award Recipients

March 9, 2016 — 

The Respiratory Disease Research Board, with support from Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI), has selected three research proposals to fund as part of its 2016 Awards for Advancing Research in Respiratory Disease program. These research proposals are funded at $35,000 each. [Source: BIVI]

Formerly known as the PRRS Research Awards, the name was updated in 2016 to include research projects addressing some of the industry’s most pressing questions about the control and management of PRDC, specifically porcine circovirus Type 2 (PCV2), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and influenza A virus in swine (IAV-S), in addition to PRRS. This is the first time in the board’s history that projects covering diseases beyond PRRS were considered.

“We recognize there are a host of respiratory disease challenges that impact swine production and performance,” says Dr. Daryl Olsen, AMVC veterinarian and member of the Respiratory Disease Research Board. “The board had a tough task of reviewing and selecting three research projects to fund from a total of 20 submitted proposals.”

The Research Award recipients are selected from a board of eight independent swine veterinarians and researchers. BIVI congratulates the 2016 Awards for Advancing Research in Respiratory Disease recipients for the following projects:

• Dr. Mike Murtaugh, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN “Pen-Side Respiratory Pathogen Identification”
• Dr. Daniel Linhares, DVM, MBA, Ph.D., Iowa State University, Ames, IA “Herd sensitivity of PRRSv-monitoring schemes on sow herds undergoing virus elimination”
• Dr. Luis Ochoa, MS, Ph.D., Carthage Innovative Swine Solutions, Carthage, Illinois “Determining the effects of PCV2 viremia qPCR status of piglets at birth on the response to PCV2 vaccine (CircoFLEX®) and subsequent viremia levels and overall growth rate, mortality and culls”

Over the last 12 years, Research Awards totaling $1 million have supported research leading to additional diagnostic testing and sampling processes, identified more effective biosecurity practices, sought to better understand reproductive diseases, and developed risk assessment tools, therapeutic intervention programs and vaccination strategies. The program is supported through funding from BIVI.

“PRRS and other swine respiratory diseases are high-risk, potentially very costly challenges that swine producers must be able to manage,” says Dr. Reid Philips, technical manager, BIVI. “We are proud to support field-applicable research that gives back to the industry.”

Applications for the 2017 Research Awards will be open in late 2016. For more information on the Respiratory Disease Research Board and the Awards for Advancing Research in Respiratory Disease program, visit http://www.SwineResearchAwards.com.