Afrcan swine fever immunology

ASFV causes severe disease of domestic pigs that can result in up to 100% mortality with concomitant serious socio-economic impacts. Nowadays, there is no vaccine against ASFV. Historically, vaccine development has been brought about by an essentially empirical approach where antibodies were usually the major protective factor. However, there are numerous pathogens for which this approach has not proved protective, including ASFV, for which the reasons remain unclear. Thus, other vaccination approaches are required, which can only be informed by a deeper knowledge of immune responses during host-pathogen interactions. The work in the group is directed into a better understanding of the immune responses required for protection in order to provide the information for rationally design a vaccine against ASFV or SwIV.