15 Sept 2020
RCVS Knowledge prize of £75,000 goes to William Ivan Morrison to further research into a vaccine for East Coast fever.
James Westgate
Job Title
RCVS Knowledge has awarded its inaugural Plowright Prize to William Ivan Morrison of The University of Edinburgh for his research combating the cattle disease East Coast fever.
The biennial RCVS Knowledge Plowright Prize recognises people working in Europe or the Commonwealth who have made significant contributions to the control, management and eradication of infectious diseases.
Worth £75,000, the award is made in memory of Dorothy and Walter Plowright. Walter Plowright was an eminent veterinary virologist, renowned for his critical work on the cattle disease rinderpest.
Prof Morrison (pictured), professor of immunology at The Roslin Institute at the university, plans to use the funding to advance his research into creating a cost-effective vaccine.
Also known as theileriosis, East Coast fever is a disease affecting cattle and caused by the protozoan parasite Theileria parva. The disease kills more than a million cattle each year in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prof Morrison’s research focuses on modifying the phenotype of T parva-infected cells to render them capable of fusion to other bovine cells, allowing them to be used for development of a novel vaccine.
Prof Morrison said: ”It is a great honour to receive the inaugural RCVS Knowledge Plowright Prize; I am particularly humbled that it is awarded in memory of Walter Plowright.
“The funds will advance my current research on T parva, by demonstrating that the approach I am pursuing is a viable option for vaccination against the parasite. Such a vaccine would be affordable by smallholders in Africa, improving their ability to control the disease, and enhancing their prosperity and quality of life.”
The RCVS has also just hosted its virtual honours and awards evening (10 September), at which it honoured this year’s prize winners and launched two new awards for its 2021 programme.
Both awards – the compassion award and the student community award – are about celebrating the power of compassion and community within the veterinary sector.
