USDA-NIFA grant supports efforts to control viral diseases in swine

 

A $475,000 grant will help a Kansas State University research laboratory determine methods to control two of the most important viral agents in pigs: porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus and swine influenza A virus.

 

Yunjeong Kim, associate professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine, is the principal investigator on the grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The project will focus on gaining a better understanding of protein disulfide isomerases enzymes as a potential target for developing intervention strategies against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, or PRRSV, and swine influenza A virus, or SIAV.

 

"SIAV and PPRSV are two of the most important viral agents in pigs," Kim said. "Controlling these viruses is crucial for the swine production industry and sustained food supply, as well as for mitigating risks of potential pandemic influenza outbreaks in humans."

 

Kim said there is an unmet need for safe and effective prevention and control measures.

 

"Identification and manipulation of host factors critical for virus infection may provide the foundation for devising novel intervention strategies," Kim said. "Our group recently found that protein disulfide isomerases, which are involved in proper protein folding, play a key role for the replication of SIAV and PRRSV in cells by conducting experiments, including gene knockdown or CRISPR-based gene-editing technologies in cells."

 

The grant is titled "Investigation of genetic factors for swine influenza A virus and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus."

 

Video: Episode 115: Home on the Range

We look at how high crop prices, driven in part by rising global food demand, biofuel incentives, and risk perspective and management, are encouraging the conversion of marginal grasslands into cultivated cropland. As more hay and pastureland is turned over to crop production, wildlife habitat becomes increasingly fragmented, leaving isolated “islands” of grass that may be too small to sustain functioning grassland ecosystems. We explore research using Alberta as a case study to understand the impact that conversion of hay and pasturelands into cropland could have on ecosystem intactness and biodiversity.