Genome Prairie supports university research
At Vido-intervac, genomics is at the core of work underway to develop low-cost vaccines for two infectious diseases affecting the bottom line of the cattle industry: bovine tuberculosis and Johne’s disease.
The latter impairs the ability of cattle to absorb nutrients — resulting in weight loss, diarrhea and eventually death.
(Vido-intervac is short for Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-international Vaccine Centre.)
Volker Gerdts, its director and CEO, is co-leading the project, called REVAMP, with Robert Hancock of the University of British Columbia. They are using “reverse vaccinology,” a genomic technology to screen large numbers of bacterial proteins simultaneously in order to find potential antigens (substances that induce an immune response). So far, they have tested a few dozen antigens for each disease, and “we have now a few that are looking very promising,” Gerdts said.
The aim is to develop what’s known as DIVA vaccines (the acronym stands for “differentiating infected from vaccinated animals), an important tool in maintaining Canada’s status as a country free of bovine TB. From the antigens, they also hope to develop companion diagnostic tests.
With about one year left to run in the project, the goal remains to have vaccines ready to licence to private industry for commercialization.
Genome Canada is contributing $2.9 million toward the project’s total cost of $7.4 million.
Other Genome Canada-funded research currently ongoing at the University of Saskatchewan is focused on providing farmers with faster access to better lentil varieties, and the development of hardy wheat cultivars.
Genome Canada, operating since 2000, was launched in answer to a “severe brain drain” in the field of genomics, said Reno Pontarollo, president and CEO of Genome Prairie, the branch covering Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Between 2005 and 2018, Genome Prairie attracted $133 million worth of research activity directly to Saskatchewan, three-quarters of which came from project partners.
The research money has played a part in recruiting and retaining research talent at the U of S, Pontarollo acknowledged.
“Having them being able to access large pools of grants is definitely a drawing card,” he said.
Six of the seven large-scale applied research projects currently in development with Genome Prairie have at least one researcher based at the U of S, he added.