Award details

Development of host immune responses to enteric pathogens

Reference	BBS/E/I/00001420
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Geoff Oldham
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	The Pirbright Institute
Department	The Pirbright Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	472,270
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/06/2009
End date	31/03/2012
Duration	34 months

Abstract

In poultry a range of pathogens either invade through or reside in the gut leading to significant problems for both animal welfare and human health. Diseases such as coccidiosis and Necrotic Enteritis have significant impacts on productivity in the poultry industry whilst zoonotic pathogens such as Salmonella enterica, Campylobacter and avian influenza infect poultry and pose a significant threat to human health. Vaccination is an attractive method for the control of enteric diseases provided that the vaccines are efficacious, inexpensive and easy to administer. Indeed, an increasing number of vaccines are now being administered in ovo directly to the immunologically immature embryo. Exactly how most of these vaccines induce immunity is not fully understood and as such a greater understanding of how immune responses can be generated in the developing embryo and young chick are required. The overriding objective of this work package is to identify the key components in generating a protective immune response against different pathogens of the gut using Salmonella and Eimeria infection models that are well established within the Enteric Immunology group. The work will focus on understanding how protective responses are generated, either by infection or vaccination, and how these responses differ in animals at different stages of immunological maturity. Manipulation of elements of the host immune system and monitoring of the responses that are generated in fine detail will help determine those elements critical for resolution of infection. Furthermore, using techniques now well established within the group we will focus on how immune responses in the young chick develop. Particular emphasis will be placed on the functional maturity of antigen presenting cells and T cells (critical for generating immune memory).

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Health, Immunology, Microbial Food Safety, Microbiology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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