First aquaculture and animal health business accelerator programme open for applications

Businesses from the aquaculture and animal health sectors are being encouraged to consider applying for the latest Pathfinder Accelerator programme. Developed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), Pathfinder is a free six-month development programme for small to medium sized businesses. Delivered mostly online, Pathfinder provides fast-track training and mentoring for entrepreneurs looking to build a company or launch a new product. Businesses have until 18 February...

£5m Covid-19 study seeks to understand virus impact

Roslin researcher leads study to examine the effect of coronavirus infection. Researchers will collect samples and data from 1,300 Covid-19 patients in the UK. A scientist from the Roslin Institute is leading a project worth almost £5 million to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. A £4.9 million investment from the Medical Research Council will kick-start a project that seeks to aid understanding of Covid-19 and its...

Future of livestock production in the spotlight

Scientists and industry experts examined the need and scope for change in the livestock sector in response to increasing societal and environmental challenges. The livestock industry must strive for high standards in mitigating its environmental footprint and improving animal welfare, while continuing to provide nutritious food for a growing global population, a recent workshop agreed. At the meeting of animal science experts from the UK...

New method aids study of poultry infections

A method of sampling tissue could aid research into therapies for chicken lung diseases. Fluorescent green immune cells in chicken lung tissue are seen to target models of infection, coloured red A novel way to study key poultry infections and aid the development of vaccines has been developed by researchers. Their approach can be used to study the respiratory tract in poultry, which is an...

Resilience to bovine TB traced to key genes

Scientists have identified regions in the cow genetic makeup linked with resilience to tuberculosis disease. bTB bacteria modify gene activity in the cells’ chromosomes. Researchers have mapped active and inactive genes in specialised lung immune cells, which play a key role in countering bovine tuberculosis (bTB) infections. In order to infect cattle, bTB bacteria modify gene activity in the cells’ chromosomes – packages of genetic...

Antibiotic resistance surprisingly stable in pigs

Antimicrobial resistance gene counts did not change in response to antibiotic treatment. AMR gene counts did not change in response to antibiotic treatment. Long term, historic use of antibiotics has resulted in antimicrobial resistance genes being stably integrated at high levels on a commercial pig farm. The findings highlight the extent of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – which can limit the effectiveness of antibiotic treatments –...

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