New Grant Funds Development of Safe, Rapidly Deployable ASF Vaccines

A $1 million Seeding Solutions grant from the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) has been awarded to Kansas State University (K-State) to develop safe and rapidly deployable vaccines to prevent African swine fever (ASF) virus. Elanco Animal Health, K-State, Kansas State University Innovation Partners and MEDIAN Diagnostics, Inc. provided matching funds for a $2,645,427 total investment. “Should the virus reach the U.S., outputs from this research could slow the virus’ spread, protect millions of U.S. pigs and safeguard our food supply,” Jasmine Bruno, scientific program director at FFAR, said in a release. ASF has been detected in over 50 countries in recent years. It continues to spread across Europe, Asia and Africa. Although this deadly disease of swine may seem miles away, the urgency to protect the U.S. swine herd from ASF has never been greater. “Without a preventative vaccine or treatment, producers’ only control option are enhancing biosecurity, increasing sur