The RVC provides services for testing efficacy of experimental vaccines and pharmaceuticals for prevention of farm animal disease.

Services

• Sourcing animals of known health status
• Efficacy testing of farm animal products using disease challenge models
• Preclinical safety testing of experimental farm animal products
• Sourcing new challenge isolates
• Exploratory studies to characterise the pathogenicity of new challenge isolates
• Study design advice
• Daily clinical assessments by experienced personnel
• In vivo sample collection
• Laboratory processing of samples and sample storage
• Full necropsy and gross assessment by trained veterinary surgeons
• Data management
• Statistical analyses and interpretation

Animal disease models recently used or conducted at RVC

(Reference papers available on request)

Cattle

• Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (Type I and Type II)
• Mannheimia haemolytica

Swine

• Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae
• Mycoplasma hyorhinis
• Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae
• Sheehan, B.J., Bossé, J.T., Beddek, A.J. Rycroft, A.N.,  Kroll, J.S. & Langford, P.R.  (2003).  Identification of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Genes important for survival during infection in its natural host.  Infection & Immunity 71, 3960-3970.
• Rycroft, A.N., Pennings A. & van den Bosch, J. (1999).  A. pleuropneumoniae subunit vaccine: compliance with European Pharmacopoeia efficacy testing in pigs.  Proceedings of the 3rd International conference on Haemophilus, Actinobacillus & Pasteurella, August 1999.
• Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2)
• Mavrommatis, B., Offord, V., Patterson, R., Watson, M., Kanellos, T., Steinbach, F., Grierson, S. & Werling, D. (2014) Global gene expression profiling of myeloid immune cell subsets in response to in vitro challenge with porcine circovirus 2b. PLOS One, 9, 1-12
• Velasova, M., Alarcon P., Werling, D., Nevel A. & Wieland, B. (2013) Effectiveness of porcine circovirus type 2 vaccination in reducing the severity of post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome in pigs. The Veterinary Journal 197, 842-847

Standards

• GCP
• Quality Assurance services
• Standard Operating Procedures