Livestock antibody research enters second phase with Gates Foundation support to boost animal vaccine design

The Pirbright Institute and the Roslin Institute receive renewed funding to advance livestock antibody studies, aiming to improve vaccines, animal health, and food security.

Scientists have begun the second stage of a long-running effort to improve livestock antibody research, in a move intended to sharpen the design of vaccines and diagnostics for animal diseases.

The renewed five-year backing from the Gates Foundation will allow teams at The Pirbright Institute and the Roslin Institute to continue the Livestock Antibody Hub, created in 2019 to examine how cattle, pigs and poultry generate antibody responses to infection. The programme is designed not only to deepen understanding of protective immunity in farm animals, but also to draw on species that can inform work on human infectious disease.

According to The Pirbright Institute, the latest support will help the hub provide specialist expertise, tools and technologies to researchers and vaccine developers in the UK and overseas. The emphasis in the next phase is on turning laboratory insight into practical gains for animal health, welfare and food security, while also supporting more resilient farming systems.

At a meeting at the Roslin Institute, Professor John Hammond said the hub would remain a source of trusted expertise for the study of antibodies across livestock species. The programme also expects to benefit smallholder farmers, for whom healthy animals can be central to income and nutrition.