Integrated Animal Health and Food Safety

The Integrated Animal Health and Food Safety aims to secure the food chain from farm to fork by integrating innovative research and education to ensure a resilient, disease-resistant future for animals and humans alike

Our mission is to safeguard animal health and food supply through interdisciplinary research into disease origins and emerging resistance, teaching the next generation of experts, and sharing evidence-based practices to prevent and combat infectious threats from the farm to the table.

Current Research

HPAI grand Challenge USDA Grant (Collaboration with Duke University)
Total Award $1,999,758 (to NCSU: $799,999).
Researchers: Drs. Ravi Kulkarni, Rocio Crespo, and Isabel Gimeno.

For this project we propose to develop a novel prime-boost vaccine approach for table egg layers that incorporates two vaccine modalities into one practical regimen: (1) A DNA plasmid-launched viral replicon HPAI vaccine “prime” given subcutaneously at one day of age, and (2) Newcastle disease virus (NDV)-vectored HPAI vaccine “boosters” administered in the drinking water at different intervals as per the poultry industry vaccination program for NDV. Both vaccine platforms will produce multiple hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) antigens designed to elicit strong protective HPAI immunity.

The outcome of this research will be a low-cost, efficacious and practical, mass-administrable vaccine that will be available to our poultry industry for use to combat HPAI to not only protect chicken health and egg production but also alleviate potential zoonotic risks.

Animal Health and Nutrition Consortium (proposals due Feb 20)