A successful long-term experiment with live hogs indicates Nebraska scientists may be another step closer to achieving a safe, long-lasting and potentially universal vaccine against swine flu.
Tag: pork industry
A wild hair: Using hair to gauge stress response in pigs
Researchers at Iowa State University aim to use hair samples from pigs to identify genetics related to stress response. The effort could help produce pigs that lead less stressful lives and are more productive. And it all starts with a quick haircut.
New cell line could lead to more reliable vaccine development to fight costly pig virus
The production of autogenous vaccines to fight individual strains of the virus that causes porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome depends on the ability of scientists to isolate the virus, but sometimes that’s a tricky process. A new study from an Iowa State University researcher shows that a new cell line may offer a better alternative to the cell line most commonly used to isolate the PRRS virus. But the vast majority of vaccine producers use the established cell line, and it remains to be seen how readily they might adopt the use of a new one.