News

ILRI News
ILRI News

ILRI deploys the Nobel Prize-winning technology, CRISPR-Cas9, to accelerate African swine fever vaccine development

Scientists at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) have been working to develop a vaccine for African swine fever, a lethal and contagious haemorrhagic viral disease in domestic pigs caused by the African swine fever virus (ASFV). Currently there are no vaccines on the market, but several are under development. Scientists at ILRI are applying the cutting-edge Nobel Prize-winning genome editing technology known as CRISPR technology to fast-track rational development of live-attenuated ASFV vaccine candidates. ILRI scientists have generated 10 ASFV vaccine candidates due to be tested for their safety and efficacy beginning the first quarter of 2021.

ILRI News

Global action needed to fight the spread of African swine fever

RHoMIS survey by Livestock CRP in Son La Province, Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Tu Mai) African swine fever, an infectious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs, has spread to nearly 51 countries across the globe and continues to wreak havoc with countries facing significant socio-economic losses...

ILRI News

Can a vaccine save the world’s pigs from African swine fever?

A recent article by Katarina Zimmer in The Scientist examines how close we are to developing a vaccine to prevent African swine fever (ASF). It contains an extended discussion of the work of Lucilla Steinaa , an immunologist at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Steinaa has been...

ILRI News

African swine fever ten years on: the lessons learned and the way forward

A pig in northwest Vietnam (photo credit: ILRI/Hanh Le). African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease of domestic and wild pigs that has caused serious economic and production losses in Asia, where China has seen direct economic losses of an estimated USD141 billion. This transboundary...

ILRI News

ILRI and China’s Nanjing Agricultural University commit to deepen collaboration for livestock research and capacity development

Chancellor Chen Ligen of Nanjing Agricultural University with ILRI director general Jimmy Smith (photo credit: ILRI). Over the past two months International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Nanjing Agricultural University (NAU) have had a number of engagements between senior managers and...

The Battle to Curb Swine Fever in Southeast Asia

(This post was written by Preeti Jha and originally posted on the Diplomat Magazine in which she interviewed Fred Unger and Hu Suk Lee, scientists at ILRI Hanoi office) ‘Some 3 million pigs have been slaughtered in Vietnam since African swine fever was detected in February, making Vietnam the first...

Millions of small pig farmers in Asia threatened by swine fever outbreak

(This post was written by Thin Lei Win and originally posted on Thomson Reuters in which Thin interviewed Hung Nguyen, ILRI regional representative for East and Southeast Asia) ROME (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Millions of small-scale pig farmers across Asia risk falling into poverty due to the...

OiE posters on African swine fever now available in Vietnamese

A new set of posters on African swine fever developed by the World Organisation for Animal Health ( OiE ) is now available in Vietnamese. The four posters, which can be downloaded and printed, describe African swine fever and the biosecurity measures that can be used to prevent this incurable...

More research on African swine fever is urgently needed: No cure, no vaccine and no treatment yet exists for this lethal pig disease

Pigs at the Drestry Farm Industry commercial farm in Asia (photo credit: ILRI/Stevie Mann). African swine fever is a highly contagious viral disease affecting domestic and wild pigs. It kills nearly 100% of the pigs it infects. The good news is that the African swine fever virus does not infect or...

ILVAC - saving livestock with vaccines

Establishment of a vaccine technology platform for African swine fever as the first target

Lucilla Steinaa 1 , Walter Fuchs 2 , Hussein Abkallo 1 , Nicholas Svitek 1 , Vish Nene 1 , Anna Lacasta 1 , Nacyra Assa-Garcia 3 , Sanjay Vashee 3 1 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), 2 Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI), 3 J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI). ILRI is working together...

  • vishnene
ILRI clippings

Belgium confirms two cases of African swine fever in wild boar

‘Belgium has confirmed the outbreak of 2 cases of African Swine Fever (ASF) in their wild boar population. It is the 1st known occurrence of the viral disease in Western Europe since the virus landed in Georgia and Armenia in 2007. ‘The Belgian Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC...

ILRI News

German agroecological livestock research investments are benefiting both people and the planet

(Left) ILRI Deputy Director General for Biosciences Dieter Schillinger welcomes to ILRI Parliamentary State Secretary to the German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Maria Flachsbarth. (Right) ILRI Assistant Director General Shirley Tarawali welcomes to ILRI BMZ Deputy...