Moredun leads £6m sheep parasite vaccine project

Details have been revealed of a £6 million multi-institutional project to develop an effective vaccine for on-farm worm control.

Moredun Research Institute is leading an international partnership including the University of Glasgow, the University of New England in Australia and The James Hutton Institute to work on a vaccine to tackle parasitism by gastrointestinal nematodes.

Nematode infections in sheep impact health and welfare, but also cost an estimated £4 per lamb through reduced weight gain and treatment costs. In Australia, the total cost to the sheep and goat industry is estimated at more than AU$450 million (£228 million) a year.

Vaccine solution

Chemical treatments have been a mainstay, but with resistance issues growing, the project’s leaders want to turn to a vaccine solution.

Progress has been made, but it is hoped the institutions combining their expertise in parasitology, immunology and vaccine formulation with technological advances will increase chances of success.

lasdair Nisbet, project lead from Moredun Research Institute, said: “We are delighted to be able to lead this international team to develop our nematode vaccine technology further and push towards a commercial product to help control this major issue in the sheep industry in the UK and beyond.”

Co-funding

Each of the partners will co-fund the project with matched funding being provided by Australia’s federal government through the Meat and Livestock Australia Donor Company to a total of more than £6 million (AU$11 million) across five years.

More than half of the budget is being met by Scottish partners, with the aim to develop an exploitable vaccine against the main gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep globally.