Moredun Magazine Autumn/Winter 2022 - issue 24

Moredun ISSUE 24

| AUTUMN/WINTER 2022

magazine

Moredun pays tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Ticks and zoonotic pathogens Taking Biology Forward with secondary school teachers

www.moredun.org.uk

Contents

Director’s comment

In this Issue: p1

Moredun pays tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

p2

News

p5

Ticks and zoonotic Tick-Borne Pathogens in Scotland

p8

Moredun and ECO Animal Health Ltd to tackle poultry red mite

p9

Toxoplasma gondii - a major cause of obvine abortion

p10

Out and About

p12

Meet Moredun’s newest recruits

p13

Obituary: David Henderson (1939-2022)

Welcome to the latest edition of the Moredun Magazine. It’s been an unusually warm summer and we’ve certainly made the most of it with events and shows back to their normal routine after a couple of years of disruption. NSA ScotSheep, the Royal Highland Show, Turriff Show and Blair International Horse trials are just a selection of the places where we have been able to share our knowledge with farmers, vets and the public. Read about the travels of our BioBus on pages 10-11.

We have a pool of staff who are always very keen to get involved with local schools, highlighting the exciting research we do to teachers and pupils. Go to page 2 to read about our latest CPD day for secondary school teachers, in conjunction with the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC) and the Royal Society of Biology.

We are delighted to have several new exciting research grants, most recently with some of the larger parasites we deal with: ticks and poultry red mite. By evaluating not just the threat they pose to the animals that host them but also what the implications are to the health and wellbeing of people and the industries they work in, we hope to offer effective solutions in their management. Read more on pages 6-8.

We are regularly recruiting new staff members who all share a passion for our mission to improve livestock health and welfare. Meet Amy, Graeme and Yunusa in our staff ‘Spotlight’ section on page 12. Do also keep an eye out for new job openings on our main website at https://moredun.org.uk/ careers, as they are regularly posted.

As Christmas approaches, be sure to visit Moredun’s online shop. As well as small gift items and cards, don’t forget that we also have our beautiful ‘Livestock Keepers’ book available to purchase, with stunning photography and inspiring stories about the people that keep the Scottish farming industry alive. The book has a foreword from our patron, HRH The Princess Royal. Visit https://moredun.org. uk/shop/books/livestock-keepers for more information.

I do hope you enjoy this issue, and I would like to thank you for your continued support of Moredun.

Julie Fitzpatrick Scientific Director and Chief Executive

Moredun Magazine Moredun magazine is produced twice a year and is available free of charge.

Designed and Produced by Moredun Communications Centre ©2022.

All images, unless otherwise stated, are ©Moredun.

To subscribe, contact: Moredun Communications Team, Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PZ

Moredun Magazine | Autumn/Winter 2022

Comments, ideas, suggestions?

Get in touch and let us know.

Please contact: Moredun Communications Team, Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PZ tel: +44 (0)131 445 5111 fax:+44 (0)131 445 6111 email: info@moredun.org.uk web: www.moredun.org.uk @MoredunComms

The Moredun Foundation is a company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland No. SC151865.

The Moredun Foundation is a charity registered in Scotland, No: SC022515 Address: Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0PZ Cover image: Photo: Martin Bennie on Unsplash

NEWS

Moredun is deeply saddened to hear of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had a strong connection to the countryside and in particular her interest in farming and rural life.

She visited Moredun in 1982, on a beautiful sunny day, to open the new Biochemistry

laboratories and enjoyed a tour around Moredun Research Institute and farm.

Balmoral and Royal Deeside was a very special place for The Queen and her Highland cattle herd and the beautiful Highland pony stud are renowned far and wide. Our staff and all connected with Moredun, join with people

across the nation and the world to recognise the remarkable service and inspiration of Queen Elizabeth II and offer our condolences to our Patron HRH The Princess Royal and the rest of the Royal Family at this very sad time.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visits Moredun to open the new Biochemistry laboratories in 1982.

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News Taking Biology Forward: A CPD day for secondary school teachers A conference was held at Moredun in May 2022 in collaboration with the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre (SSERC) and the Royal Society of Biology for secondary school teachers across Scotland to highlight science and research resources. The aim was to help support teaching of Higher and Advanced Higher Biology.

49 teachers attended from secondary schools across Scotland and the day comprised a series of talks along with hands-on workshops.

Professor Julie Fitzpatrick gave a talk on “Livestock matters for local and global food security” and Professor Lee Innes, Dr Dave Bartley and Dr Philip Skuce spoke on “Parasites and their relationships with us and other animals”. Nine Moredun staff members hosted practical workshops for the teachers covering parasitology, immunology, microbiology and organoid cultures.

Annie McRobbie, Education Manager, Biology SSERC said: “The Royal Society of Biology Teachers taking part in Parasitology workshop.

Annual Teachers’ Meeting was held in May 2022 at Moredun. This was our first larger face-to-face meeting, involving teachers from across Scotland, following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moredun were incredibly supportive as the event hosts, communicating quickly to resolve challenges that arose as a result of coming out of lockdown.

Moredun offered a selection of workshops in the afternoon of our meeting, providing further insight into the work they do at the institute and how this relates to the curriculum; teachers remarked on how useful these sessions were and how approachable the staff were. Moredun researchers also presented their work in a lecture session, making direct and purposeful curricular links from their research and providing teachers with cutting-edge examples of research in the field to bring back to their learners.

Moredun was a fantastic host for our meeting and SSERC and Royal Society of Biology cannot

Teachers taking part in Immunology workshop.

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thank you enough.”

NEWS

Sheep and Goat Sm@rt Project on Tour to France A multi-national project involving Moredun scientists to improve the uptake of digital technologies in sheep and goat farming has held its first in-person transnational workshop in France.

Around 70 researchers, farmers, lecturers and advisors from seven countries attended the event in Saint Affrique in July, which was held as part of the Sm@RT (Small Ruminant Technologies) project, led by colleagues at SRUC in partnership with Moredun Research Institute and funded by the EU Horizon 2020 research programme.

Two previous workshops had been held online due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The delegates from UK, France, Ireland, Norway, Estonia, Italy and Israel, visited two sheep farms – La Cazotte in Roquefort, which is linked to an agricultural school, and mixed dairy and meat sheep experimental farm La Fage in Aveyron – where they had the opportunity to see and learn about the use of 14 small ruminant innovative technologies.

These included virtual and connected fences, automatic feeders in the milking parlour, individual feed bins, and shed sensors for temperature, humidity, and CO2, among others.

On the second day, following a presentation about the French sheep sector,

The Sm@RT team in Saint Affrique, France.

delegates shared examples of the innovative technologies being used in their countries, including automatic weighing and water consumption in one trough, DNA sampling for lamb parentage and a hay drying machine.

Moredun’s Dr Fi Kenyon says: “It was good to see this first in-person meeting take place and the feedback has been very positive with people

enjoying the opportunity to see and learn about many different innovative technologies that are available for sheep and goats.”

If you are interested in joining the network, or would like more information about the project, please visit https://smartplatform. network/

Norwegian Farmers Visit Moredun We were delighted to welcome a group of 30 farmers from Norway to Moredun on 29th July as part of a national tour of Scotland, looking at innovation and knowledge transfer in sheep farming.

Lee Innes, Tom McNeilly, Mara Rocchi and Keith Ballingall gave short presentations and Q&A sessions to the group. and Ambre Chapuis and Marc Faber demonstrated the organoid technology and its potential to further understanding of host-pathogen interactions.

Norwegian sheep farmers find out about organoid technology.

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News Levy bodies unite to control liver fluke This autumn sees the launch of a new manual to help farmers control liver fluke in grazing livestock, in a joint levy-body effort to control what can be a devastating disease.

Produced by AHDB, Hybu Cig Cymru (Meat Promotion Wales) and QMS, the manual highlights the latest research and advice on control practices to protect livestock from potential animal health and welfare damage posed by liver fluke.

The information in this booklet has been compiled by Moredun’s Dr Philip Skuce, Lesley Stubbings (LSSC Limited) and Professor Diana Williams (University of Liverpool), and produced in collaboration between AHDB, HCC and QMS. Dr Philip Skuce said: “Sustainable fluke control continues to be a challenge in grazing livestock, even after a good summer across most

of the UK! Fluke risk varies from year to year, from farm to farm and even from field to field! In this new guide, we’ve tried to help farmers, vets and advisors assess the risk of fluke, based on diagnostic testing, interfaced with information on mud snail habitat and fluke epidemiology, and illustrated through a series of genuine case studies from across the country.”

Five case studies from farmers from across the UK cover a variety of management systems and fluke risk levels.

For more information, a monthly liver fluke forecast is available through NADIS (https://nadis.org.uk/parasite-forecast/) , whilst SCOPS (https://www.scops.org.uk/ and COWS (https://www.cattleparasites. org.uk/) cover species specific advice.

You can view the manual on our website: https://bit.ly/3SljJZ2

Successful summer webinar series As part of our partnership with NSA, we ran two joint webinars this summer. These webinars were well advertised by both partners on websites, e-news and social media and attracted good audiences. Both were recorded and the links are available to the recordings on both Moredun and NSA websites, allowing them to be re-visited at a convenient time.

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Scab… It’s for the Flock’s Sake: The second webinar was held in August on the topic of sheep scab, again by popular demand, driven by Dr Stewart Burgess’ DEFRA funded Rural Development Programme for England Colston covering practical treatments and

(RDPE). This project has raised a lot of interest

management of sheep. As a follow on to this

in this co-ordinated focus group approach to

webinar, we have had many inquiries regarding

controlling scab. Stewart covered the research

our work on ticks and on the progress of the

part of the disease, disease control, diagnostics

Louping-Ill vaccine. https://moredun.org.uk/ resources/videos/webinar-tick-tock

and the RDPE project, with Lesley Stubbings, sheep advisor and project partner, leading on the more practical sheep farming aspects of the above areas. https://moredun.org.uk/

Tick Tock, Don’t Let Time Run Out With Ticks:

Topics covered:

The first was held in July on the subject of

• Surveillance (tick distribution)

Topics covered:

ticks and tick-borne diseases, by popular

• How to control tick-borne diseases

• Testing

demand. Dr Mara Rocchi focussed on

• Avoidance/management strategies

• Control

research and surveillance, with Elanco’s Matt

• Vaccine production/development

• Quarantine

Moredun Magazine | Autumn/Winter 2022

• Biology of the tick

resources/videos/webinar-scab-flocks-sake

Moredun Scientific/Pentlands Science Park

New disease models support pig vaccine and therapeutic developments Moredun Scientific, the contract research arm of the Moredun Group, conduct studies to enable their clients to evaluate the efficacy of new and improved vaccines and therapeutic drugs for use in livestock.

To facilitate such studies validated experimental models of infectious disease are required and a portfolio of models has been developed to meet the needs of the animal health industry.

For pig producers, pathogens of significant importance include Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus (PPRSV) and the bacteria Streptococcus suis and Escherichia coli.

For PRRSV studies a natural seeder model has been successfully developed to mimic natural virus transmission on farms. A small number of pigs are infected with the virus and

S.suis infections cause sepsis and meningitis in piglets. Across Europe different serotypes of the pathogen are responsible for disease outbreaks. Serotype 2 is widespread and Moredun Scientific’s serotype 2 infection model has been frequently used in both therapeutic and vaccine studies. Models for other bacterial serotypes are currently under development.

E.coli is a pathogen associated with post-weaning diarrhea in young piglets which causes significant losses for pig producers. The then mixed with uninfected pigs, transmission of the virus to the uninfected animals occurs through direct and indirect contact with infected animals and mimics the natural transmission that would occur in the field.

In addition, a direct challenge model is also available. Both models have been successfully used to assess the efficacy of test products in preventing or reducing the spread of infection.

Moredun Scientific model uses E.coli F4 as the challenge strain and has enabled potential prophylactic and therapeutic control measures to be evaluated in 4 week old piglets.

For further information please contact David Reddick, Head of Animal Health at Moredun Scientific dreddick@moredunscientific.com

Moredun and Pentlands Science Park showcased at latest Midlothian Science Zone Business Forum The Midlothian Science Zone (MSZ), where Moredun resides, is a cluster of science parks, research institutes and businesses that each carry out worldleading research in animal health and life science.

Recently MSZ have been running a series of Business Forums to showcase the facilities and expertise in the area. It also provides opportunity for discussion, collaboration and awareness between Zone residents.

On 13th September Moredun and Pentlands Science Park were the focus of the latest forum as one of the founding members of the MSZ. Participants listened to presentations given by Richard Mole (Business Development Manager), Stephen Anderson

Moredun Research Institute, Pentlands Science Park.

(Head of Bioservices), Rhona Macdonald (Head of Marketing, Moredun Scientific), and Jill Gayford (Park Manager, Pentlands Science Park).

Previous locations for the MSZ Business Forum include the Agri-EPI Centre, The University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush campus, and Edinburgh Technopole.

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Research

Photo | Erik Karits on Unsplash

Ticks and zoonotic Tick-Borne Pathogens in Scotland: evaluating risk for humans and livestock

Sheep tick.

Moredun have recently become involved in a new Scottish Government-funded project to further develop research into ticks, tickborne diseases and their effect on humans, livestock and wildlife.

Ticks are blood sucking ectoparasites that require a suitable host to complete their lifecycle and are the second most important pathogen vector after mosquitoes globally.

There are at least twenty species of ticks indigenous to the UK, with the most common being Ixodes ricinus. This tick is more commonly known as the sheep tick and is the vector for several diseases which affect livestock such as louping ill, tickborne fever (TBF), babesiosis (red water fever), and tick pyaemia. However, the same ticks can transmit Lyme disease (Borrelia) as well as louping ill and tickborne fever to humans, dogs, and horses. The sheep

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Moredun Magazine | Autumn/Winter 2022

tick is distributed widely all over the UK but

marked increase in deer numbers acting as tick

prefers dense vegetation and warm, wet

maintenance hosts.

conditions to support the free-living stages of

Upland grazing is the preferred habitat

its life cycle. Vector-borne zoonotic disease

of the sheep tick. Tick infestations are

transmission requires the interaction of a

therefore of significant importance to hill

pathogen, vector, and one or more reservoir

sheep production, with animal welfare

hosts, in our case represented by avian, rodent

concerns resulting from irritation, anaemia

and deer. In disease systems maintained by

and risk of disease transmission, and economic

tick hosts the spatial and temporal patterns of

losses resulting from disease outbreaks. Tick

contact between ticks and their wildlife hosts

infestations are also a public health concern

can influence the efficiency and stability of

due to the risks and effects of Lyme disease

transmission to other species.

and other zoonotic diseases. However, more

There is increasing awareness of ticks and

and more often, ticks can be found in urban

tickborne diseases, amidst reports of ticks

or semi-rural environments, such as gardens

spreading geographically and increasing in

and parks, and this can increase the risk of

numbers. Factors which may contribute to

zoonotic transmission.

this are climate change (particularly during

As well as those diseases mentioned

relatively wet summers), sheep farming

above, tickborne pathogens are responsible

economics, a reduction in sheep dipping,

for an under-studied subset of emerging

environmental biodiversity management

infections, such as babesiosis, ehrlichiosis

strategies in relation to habitat, and the

and theileriosis, plus several potential exotic

Photo | Martin Bennie on Unsplash

RESEARCH

Ticks are a common occurance in heathland.

diseases which could easily take hold in the UK tick population if introduced. An example of this is the recent discovery in UK ticks (and potentially in one or two individuals) of Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus (TBEV), which is widespread in continental Europe. Using a multi-disciplinary, multi-centre One Health approach, Moredun have been awarded a new Scottish Government grant to improve our tick research. This will be done in conjunction with SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) and University of Glasgow aimed at increasing our current research capacity, developing improved risk maps and looking more deeply

into how ticks interact and mix between humans, wildlife and the environment, and the associated zoonotic pathogen risk.

This project is part of the current Strategic Research Programme and is a continuation of our previously funded research on ticks and Lyme Disease in collaboration with the University of Glasgow. This work will be supported with the use of molecular tools at Moredun and SRUC (Scotland’s Rural College) to identify ticks and their related pathogens, combined with spatiotemporal modelling expertise at SRUC to understand tick distributions and movement

opportunities. Molecular tools can identify one or more pathogens in the ticks collected in locations chosen to represent different ecological environments and contact with humans, whereas statistical models will be employed to model tick distribution, overlay livestock, human population and pathogens density in the same area to identify places at higher risk of transmission of zoonotic diseases. Therefore, this project uniquely explores how both humans and livestock interact with, and change, their environment, thereby influencing tick presence and the associated pathogen risk. This aspect will also be investigated by a new PhD student

Photo | A.B. Dowsett - Science Photo Library

associated to the project. Dr Mara Rocchi, the Head of Moredun’s Virus Surveillance Unit, says: “The overarching aim of this new project is to understand how livestock and humans interact with, and affect, the environmental factors that influence the distribution of ticks and pathogens in the landscape. Changing environments result in a change in the spread and the contact rates of ticks and tickborne zoonotic pathogens with humans and livestock. Another main aim is to develop new, optimised models of tick abundance and produce distribution maps of tickborne pathogens across Scotland.” Moredun members can access our fact sheet “Ticks and Tickborne Diseases” (2018) on our website: https://moredun.org.uk/ resources/factsheets/ticks-and-tickborneTick borne encephalitis virus.

diseases

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Research Moredun and ECO Animal Health working together to tackle poultry red mite

Red mites aggregating in a barn.

Moredun Research Institute has entered a research partnership with ECO Animal Health Ltd., a leader in the development, registration, and marketing of pharmaceutical products for global animal health markets. This research involves an exciting project which uses ‘reverse vaccinology’ to develop an effective first-in-class vaccine solution for the sustainable control of poultry red mite.

Poultry red mite (PRM; Dermanyssus gallinae) is a blood-feeding parasite that has considerable welfare and production implications for both commercial laying hens and backyard flocks. The mites live ‘off host’ in the cracks and crevices of the poultry house, emerging in darkness to feed on hens. Red mites are related to ticks and several life stages of the mite are blood-feeding. Adult females will feed every 3 to 4 days to produce 30 eggs in their lifetime, on average. In ideal conditions, PRM can develop from an egg to a sexually mature adult in just 7 days. With such an efficient lifecycle, mite numbers in poultry houses can be massive; in severe infestations, numbers can range between 200,000 and 500,000 mites per hen.

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Given the large blood requirement of an individual mite and their population numbers, PRM infestation is one of the emerging and important causes of production losses in laying hens and has a major impact on animal welfare. Poultry red mites also serve as vectors for several disease-causing bacteria and viruses in poultry. Their ubiquitous presence threatens the poultry industry globally, as there are no effective long-term non-chemical solutions available for the prevention of PRM infestation in poultry.

Pesticides are currently being used by poultry producers to treat and therefore limit the losses due to heavy PRM infestation.

However, this comes with associated potential risks including chemical residues in eggs and meat and development of drug resistance.

Heavy PRM infestation is reported in the EU and UK, and this is expected to increase because of animal husbandry legislation changes, increased treatment resistance, climate warming, all of which is hampered by the current lack of a sustainable approach to PRM control.

The reverse vaccinology approach uses knowledge of the mites’ genetic make-up, computer-based predictions of where mite proteins are found and what they do, high throughput vaccine production and screening of prototype vaccines for early vaccine discovery. Mite proteins which may eventually be components of the vaccine (“antigens”) are initially identified using computer-based algorithms to predict appropriate proteins from whole genomes. For this reason, a complete parasite genome is the preferred starting point and, to facilitate this approach for PRM, we recently produced the first draft genome for the parasite. The other components of reverse vaccinology – i) capacity to produce synthetic antigens and ii) robust animal models for the testing of candidate antigens - are both available for testing of prototype vaccines against PRM at

Moredun, the latter as a result of our NC3Rsfunded development of an “on-hen feeding device” for this species.

Moredun therefore has the worldleading technologies, tools, expertise, and experience in working with PRM and in parasite vaccine development to tackle this difficult issue. The resulting prototype vaccine will target functions that are important to PRM development, viability, and fertility. Both parties are excited about the potential of this innovation to help address a significant unmet need and improve animal welfare in the poultry industry. The project, which started in July 2022 and will run for a 3-year period, is already revealing novel aspects of the parasite’s biology to target in a new vaccine approach.

Under the terms of the partnership, Moredun will conduct the sponsored research project over a period of 36 months.

If the programme is successful, ECO may take the option of developing, registering, and commercialising the vaccine under a worldwide exclusive license from Moredun.

David Hallas, Chief Executive of ECO said: “Once again, our R&D team has successfully concluded an agreement to partner with a leading research institute, in this case MRI, to develop a vaccine solution to PRM. If successful, the vaccine has very significant potential globally and would have substantial animal health benefits.”

Dr Alasdair Nisbet, Director of Research and Innovation at Moredun, commented: “We are delighted to have entered this research partnership with ECO and we have all the tools and expertise ready to move towards a new intervention for this parasite and to support the global poultry industry.”

Moredun members can access our fact sheet “Poultry Red Mite” (2022) on our website: https://moredun.org.uk/resources/ factsheets/5846

RESEARCH

Toxoplasma gondii: A major cause of ovine abortion Toxoplasma gondii is a major cause of infectious abortion in sheep and is also a significant human pathogen.

Scientists at Moredun are conducting research to further our understanding of the biology, transmission and host-pathogen interactions with the parasite to help develop effective prevention and control strategies.

Sheep with their lambs.

Toxoplasma parasites are tiny single celled organisms and are among the most successful parasites worldwide. Toxoplasma can infect all warm-blooded animals, including humans.

Domestic cats and members of the cat family are the definitive hosts of the parasite, i.e., the parasite can only complete its life cycle in a member of the cat family. Cats become infected for the first time when they start hunting and eat infected wild rodents and birds. Following a primary infection, cats can shed millions of tough shelled oocysts (parasite eggs) into the environment, where they can survive and remain infective for several years, preferring temperate, moist conditions. Following infection, most cats develop immunity to the parasite and tend not to re-shed oocysts. As young cats are the main shedders of the parasite, it is good practice to have resident, neutered and healthy farm cats.

Sheep may become infected with Toxoplasma through the ingestion of infective oocysts on pasture or in contaminated feed or water. A primary infection during pregnancy may cause disease and abortion of the foetus.

Sheep develop immunity following a primary infection that will protect against disease in a subsequent pregnancy. If they become infected outwith pregnancy, they show very few clinical signs but may have a transient fever.

Research at Moredun has shown that as few as 200 infectious oocysts may cause Toxoplasma abortion in a susceptible ewe.

Following infection, the parasite persists in the animal within tissue cysts and consumption of undercooked meat from infected food animals is a common route of transmission to people. Contamination of water with the oocyst stage of the parasite is also a possible route of infection for humans and may be more important than previously thought.

Diagnosis As with all disease situations, early and accurate diagnosis of the problem is key to minimising losses and applying effective prevention and control strategies.

Always isolate the aborting ewe immediately, clean up the aborted material and bedding and get a diagnosis as soon as possible. This is very important in case the diagnosis informs that an infectious agent is responsible which could spread to other animals in the flock. For this reason, it is advisable not to use ewes that have had late abortions, mummified lambs or suspiciously weak lambs as foster mothers until diagnostic tests have confirmed this is due to toxoplasmosis and not enzootic abortion, which is transmissible to lambs.

Sensitive and specific tests are available for Toxoplasma diagnosis: • Dead lambs and their placentas (if available) should be submitted to the veterinary investigation laboratory, where tissue samples will be examined for the presence of Toxoplasma and for lesions associated with Toxoplasma infection.

• Molecular diagnostic tests (PCR) can detect Toxoplasma specific DNA from infected

be administered to ewes at least 3 weeks prior to tupping. As toxoplasma is transmitted to sheep through consumption of oocysts on the pasture or in feed and water, it is difficult to prevent the disease spreading within a flock through the maintenance of a closed flock. Feed bins should be covered to prevent cats from gaining access and cats should be kept away from hay used for feeding sheep. Although there are no drugs that can cure sheep infected with Toxoplasma some research done at Moredun showed that feeding the coccidiostat decoquinate during pregnancy can reduce lamb losses due to Toxoplasma infection.

Risk to people Toxoplasma can also infect people and particular risk groups include pregnant women and immune-compromised individuals.

The main route of transmission is through consumption of the parasite in contaminated food and water and eating undercooked meat containing Toxoplasma cysts.

Current Toxoplasma research at Moredun Moredun’s aim is to advance our understanding of how sheep can be protected against toxoplasmosis and subsequently use this knowledge to develop next generation vaccines that will be safer, offer better protection and cost less. Scientists are also in the process of developing new molecular diagnostics to identify Toxoplasma strains in livestock, wildlife, humans, and the environment and understand transmission routes. Finally, Moredun are investigating new in vitro systems to study the virulence of Toxoplasma parasites and help develop new prevention and control strategies.

for the presence of Toxoplasma antibodies,

As part of their popular animation series, Moredun recently released “Tackling Toxoplasmosis” in conjunction with scientists in Brazil and the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. View it

which will indicate exposure to the parasite.

on the website at: https://moredun.org.uk/

tissue samples.

• In addition, your vet can take blood samples and submit these to the lab to be examined

Prevention and control There is a live vaccine available, Toxovax™, which is licenced for use in the UK and should

resources/videos/tackling_toxoplasmosis.

A more detailed fact sheet is also available to members of the Moredun Foundation, “Control of Toxoplasma Abortion in Sheep” (Vol. 7, No. 2).

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Out and About The Travels of the Moredun BioBus

The BioBus at the NSA Sheep Show in Malvern.

The Livestock Keepers book, launched at the RHS.

We have been to a wide variety of different events this summer, involving collaborations with our partners and with Moredun’s mobile laboratory, the BioBus, which added a very interesting dimension to our stands and was a hit with the public and farmers alike. Many thanks to all our scientists, Board members and Regional Advisors who kindly give up their time to assist at these events.

June saw a large team from Moredun at NSA ScotSheep, Tealing, where we had a very busy day with the stand being on the schools’ circuit. We also had many discussions about a range of diseases, with ticks and tick-borne diseases at the fore.

The BioBus sat ringside at the Royal Highland Show to share knowledge about vaccines, with bus sponsors MSD Animal Health in attendance. The marquee was busy with farmers, policy makers and collaborators during Thursday and Friday, and with many children at the weekend where the focus was on education with our Disease Detectives programme.

We also officially launched our brand-new coffee table book, ‘Livestock Keepers’, at the show to raise funds to support the livestock industry. You can purchase your own copy via

our online shop at: https://moredun.org.uk/ shop/books/livestock-keepers.

In July, the BioBus headed south to attend the NSA Sheep Show in Malvern, forming part of a large stand in Avon Hall. We featured our work on parasites, running a demo with SCOPs (Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep) on Precision Sheep Farming, and participated in NSA’s Grassland Trail and the RoSA (Register of Sheep Advisers) trail for CPD. We hosted NSA CEO Phil Stocker with a group from DEFRA, including the Directors of Future Farming and Pathways to Health.

Parasitologists on tour We were finally let loose with the BioBus earlier in the summer to take part in an on-farm event in Cumbria. It was a joint effort with Elanco and AHDB, talking about sustainable worming practices. Despite the warm, sunny weather, more than 40 local farmers came along – testament to the level of interest surrounding this important topic!

We kicked things off in the shed, talking about worm control with a lively question and answer session. After lunch, we opened the BioBus for faecal egg count demonstrations and practical tips on how, why and when to test flocks and herds.

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The BioBus appeared on-farm in Cumbria.

Keep an eye out and pop in to say hello if you see the BioBus visiting your area (it’s quite hard to miss!), we are always happy to

chat about animal health…especially all things wormy!

OUT AND ABOUT

Equine Grass Sickness Fund has successful summer Royal Highland Show Nine horses and ponies came forward for our Survivors Parade at the Royal Highland Show.

Seven of them were survivors – giant Clydesdale, Scottie, who led the parade, sport horses Bart and Henry, cob Cindy, riding school superstar Nugget, and cute ponies Ollie and Dainty. Two further horses, Wini and Image, the golden oldies, attended in memory of their young field companion Tommy, who lost his life to acute grass sickness.

Professor Lee Innes joined the Royal Highland Show TV commentary box to explain more about the disease and the exciting new research projects, including the EGS Biobank, generously supported by the British Horse Society.

You can watch the RHS TV interview with Professor Lee Innes of The Moredun Foundation and some footage of the parade at: https://bit.ly/3Sna3O6 We were delighted to be joined by some very special EGS VIPs to present the rosettes: Jen McLellan of the The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the University of Edinburgh, who helped nurse some of the participants back to health, Melody Ashcroft of Heald Town Highland Pony Stud, who takes the photos for our annual fundraising calendar, and Jane Hutcheon of Norbrook GB. Huge thanks to the Royal Highland Show for giving us the great honour of showcasing our survivors in the main arena, in particular Anne Logan, Chairman of the Equine Grass Sickness Fund.

Thanks are also due to Andi Neilson who created a wonderful script to tell the story of each individual survivor, to Chloe Nielson for taking the images, and to Yvonne Maclean whose sashes made them look simply fabulous

The EGSF stand at Blair International Horse Trials.

– all of which you can read and see by visiting the Equine Grass Sickness Fund website: https://bit.ly/3Sc1w0y

Turriff Show Partners in the Equine Grass Sickness (EGS) project, Norvite, invited us to attend Turriff Show at the end of July as part of their stand and to meet HRH the Princess Royal. HRH was very knowledgeable and supportive of this project, which is being led by Moredun.

We took a stand to the EGS Ross-shire Show on 6th August to support fundraising for the EGS project and raise awareness of the biobank, with local vets invited to meet us to discuss the project.

Blair International Horse Trials

EGSF were present at the Turriff Show.

The EGS Fund was selected to be one of the chosen charities at Blair International Horse Trials, with EGS researchers setting up the BioBus and a stand there for the four days (25th-28th August). This was a great opportunity for fundraising and for PR. The EGS Fund was honoured to have been chosen as the Official Charity 2022 for Blair International Horse Trials in August. The sun shone all week, giving our research team the perfect opportunity to showcase their work in the BioBus out on the cross-country course, with branded jumps to promote our cause.

Back at the trade stand beside the main arena, our brand-new anatomical horse, kindly donated by Norbrook, proved an excellent talking point, with over two hundred entries to our competition to name the horse and win £100 Equikro Equestrian vouchers. Jane Hutcheon of Norbrook had the difficult task of choosing the name, settling on Norbrook Gut Feeling, or Norris to his friends. He now takes pride of place in the Atrium at Moredun.

We were supported by an army of volunteers who helped provide information and advice on grass sickness as well as selling fundraising merchandise and doing bucket collections.

Three grass sickness survivors lined up for our Survivor’s Parade and we were joined by Helene Mauchlen of the British Horse Society, who have generously funded the EGS Biobank.

The Moredun-branded jump looking the part.

Moredun Magazine | Autumn/Winter 2022 11

Spotlight Meet Moredun’s newest recruits Amy Wallace

Yunusa Yakubu

Graeme Barry

Research Assistant

Technical Officer (In vitro Biosafety)

Research Scientist

What is your role?

Describe your job role

What is your role?

I’m really lucky to have two jobs here so I get to work with the paratuberculosis group and the OPA virology group. In one role, I’m currently trying to optimise a new method of determining how many live bacteria are in a sample that should take 4 weeks rather than the 16 weeks it currently takes. In the other role, we are modelling adenocarcinoma using sheep and also developing some new diagnostic assays for OPA, the virus that causes ovine lung cancer. It’s really interesting to be part of two very different projects and getting to do a variety of different things with my days.

Biological products pose an inherent risk for the introduction of microbial or viral contaminants. In addition, the manufacturing process or product itself may introduce impurities that must be characterized. Hence, my job role involves conducting biosafety tests in biopharmaceuticals, cell banks, viral seed stocks, and bulk harvest to ensure that they are free from any agents that will have any detrimental effects to humans and animals for which the product is intended. Also, my other responsibilities include maintaining laboratory equipment and facilities to required acceptable standards, preparing and maintaining stock of laboratory consumables and reagents, managing incoming goods, test article receipt and general administrative support.

My job focuses on research and surveillance.

I slice pathology samples and place them into cassettes, process, embed and cut them on a microtome. I also do IHC (immunohistochemistry) which involves the process of selectively identifying antigens (proteins) in cells of a tissue section by exploiting the principle of antibodies binding specifically to antigens in biological tissue.

What’s one item that you can’t live without?

My passport. I came back to Scotland in July 2020 and have been here since then, and that’s the longest period of time I’ve spent in the UK since 2009!

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Moredun Magazine | Autumn/Winter 2022

What’s one item that you can’t live without?

Family.

What’s one item that you can’t live without?

My phone, which seems shallow, but it has everything on it and feel lost without it. It does have all my pictures, my banking app and, most importantly, Netflix.

NEWS

Obituary David Henderson (1939-2022) It is with great sadness that Moredun staff heard of the death of David Henderson on 8th October and we would like to offer our condolences to his family.

David was Head of Clinical Services and Director of farms at Moredun from 1984 to 1999 and was a passionate advocate for the improvement of farm animal health and welfare through research and education. He was instrumental in designing the new farm facility and in managing the move of the David Henderson.

Institute from Gilmerton Road in Edinburgh

to Pentlands Science Park in 1997. David was brought up in Northumberland where he worked on a hill sheep farm before training as a vet at the Royal Dick Veterinary School, graduating in 1960. He worked in general practice for several years and then as a senior lecturer at Seale-Hayne Agricultural College.

David was a past President of the Sheep Veterinary Society and author of The Veterinary book for Sheep farmers. David made an outstanding contribution to the health and welfare of farm animals through his work and was a great colleague, mentor and friend to many people. He will be greatly missed.

Tackling endemic disease is key in combating climate emissions Agri-food industry leaders heard from experts across Europe at a major conference in October 2022 on the link between good animal health and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

Convened by Animal Health and Welfare NI (AHWNI), the “Healthy Animals – Healthy Environment” conference explored how tackling endemic disease can go hand in hand with the fight against climate change, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farms.

Insights were shared on just how

This conference comes at an important

important tackling endemic disease, such

time as ministers work on future agricultural

as BVD, is to improving animal health

policy and the green growth agenda. Endemic

and overall farm productivity, but also

disease control is a vital tool in reducing

significantly improving environmental and

the environmental footprint of ruminant

climate outcomes. Dr Philip Skuce from the

farms, and this conference will be a key

Moredun Research Institute in Edinburgh

knowledge-sharing opportunity as industry

shared key findings from his recent report

and government develop future strategies to

“Acting on Methane” which sets out a roadmap

mitigate endemic disease in Northern Ireland.

for beef, dairy and sheep farmers on the methane impacts of diseases like BVD, and

The Acting on Methane report can be

the environmental gains that can be realised

downloaded from https://ruminanthw.org.

through improved disease control.

uk/actingonmethane/

Sponsored by DAERA and the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC), the event took place at the Hilton Hotel, Templepatrick, with speakers including Moredun’s Dr Philip Skuce, Dr Inge Santman-Berends from the Royal GD in the Netherlands and Edwin Poots MLA, Minister for Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Affairs.

Tackling endemic disease has a clear impact on farm efficiency by increasing growth rate, reducing days to slaughter, and increasing reproductive performance. This in turn will reduce methane emissions, potentially by as much as 10%.

Dr Philip Skuce (R ) spoke about the new “Acting on Methane” report.

Moredun Magazine | Autumn/Winter 2022 13

The Moredun Foundation is a company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland No. SC151865.

The Moredun Foundation is a charity registered in Scotland, No. SC022515.

Address: Pentlands Science Park, Bush Loan, Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland, EH26 0PZ.

3,500/JTCP

www.moredun.org.uk