Scientists have used gene-editing techniques to stop the bird flu virus from spreading in chicken cells grown in the lab. Bird flu is a major threat to farmed chickens worldwide, with severe strains killing up to 100 per cent of birds in a flock. In rare instances, certain variations of the virus can infect people and cause serious illness. Efforts to control the spread of...
Neogen Corporation (Nasdaq: NEOG) announced today the Scottish Government has formally extended its partnership with Neogen in Ayr, Scotland, to perform genomics testing as part of the government’s program to improve the country’s beef herd. The genomic testing partnership was initiated in October 2016, and now has been extended through September 2021. The Beef Efficiency Scheme (BES) is funded as part of the Scottish Rural...
Scientists have created pigs that are immune to one of the world’s costliest livestock diseases. Ground breaking research in to gene editing farm animals presents an opportunity to prevent billions of pounds in losses each year however, critics say that creating disease-resistant animals will discourage farmers from improving the welfare of their livestock. The team edited the animals’ DNA to make them resist the deadly...
The University of Glasgow’s is to lead a European network whose mission is to provide a European Double Doctorate level training programme on innovative technologies applied to animal science and nutrition. The four-year European Joint Doctorate in Molecular Animal Nutrition (MANNA) is a partnership between academic and industrial institutions in the UK, Italy, Germany, Spain, Croatia the Slovak Republic, Belgium and France. The network will...
A project worth almost £800,000 has been launched by Scottish Sea Farms and feed company BioMar to target gill health in farmed salmon. The £798,400, two-year initiative, part funded by the Scottish Aquaculture Innovation Centre (SAIC), will develop innovative diagnostic tools to precisely monitor the gill condition of salmon in seawater pens, along with devising new feeds to promote optimum health and welfare. It is...
Prof Eleanor Riley, director of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, said new techniques will soon allow breeders to genetically engineer disease resilience and, in some cases, immunity into pedigree animals, saving farmers millions of pounds a year. Roslin, one of a handful of sites in the world with the capacity for both gene editing and running animal trials, recently announced it had made pigs that...