Award details

Studentship: Foot-and-mouth disease virus capsid protein VP4 as a novel target for disease control

Reference	BBS/E/I/00001989
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Tobias Tuthill
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Terry Jackson
Institution	The Pirbright Institute
Department	The Pirbright Institute Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	70,534
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	06/01/2014
End date	31/03/2017
Duration	38 months

Abstract

Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) is a member of the picornavirus family of non-enveloped viruses which comprise a single molecule of positive sense RNA inside a 30nm diameter protein capsid. FMD remains a major problem for livestock agriculture worldwide. In areas where the disease is endemic, control is by regular vaccinations. Outbreaks in areas normally free of disease are controlled by slaughter, emergency vaccination and trade restrictions. Vaccination with the current inactivated virus vaccines suffers from a delayed onset of immunity, poor duration of immunity and lack of cross-protection between virus serotypes/strains. New strategies are therefore required to improve control in areas where FMD is endemic and to improve emergency control of outbreaks in countries normally free of FMD. Emergency outbreak control by slaughter has become unpopular in recent years. An alternative strategy receiving increased interest is the use of antiviral drugs for emergency control of FMD, because treatment can act very quickly and bridge the delay until vaccine-mediated immunity is in place. The FMDV capsid protein VP4 is an attractive pan-serotype target because it is very highly conserved (the N terminus of VP4 is almost invariant across all FMDVs) and is likely to be amenable to both anti-viral and vaccination strategies.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Health, Immunology, 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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