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Researchers using gene sequencing to tackle emerging swine diseases
Researchers at the University of Minnesota are using gene sequencing to rapidly detect emerging swine diseases.
Dr. Cheryl Dvorak is a molecular biologist in the veterinary and biomedical sciences department.
She tells Brownfield it’s easy to diagnose infections that have been seen before.
“But what about something that we haven’t seen before, or we think we know what it is but then when you try to diagnose it in a lab, it turns out to be negative? So one of the ideas is to use sequencing to know exactly what you have in that sample.”
Dvorak and her team used Senecavirus A to develop methods that allowed for rapid, unbiased pathogen detection that she says can help pig farmers and vets better detect and prevent hard-hitting infectious diseases.
“We might even be able to determine where it came from because once you have the sequencing information, you can tell the strain of the senecavirus they were infected with. And if there is a Foot and Mouth Disease present, then you should be able to see that virus as well.”
She tells Brownfield this research is in its initial steps, but Dvorak is optimistic it will eventually be taken on-farm.
