The Pirbright Institute

The Pirbright Institute

We are a world-leading centre of excellence in the research and surveillance of viral diseases of livestock and viruses that spread from animals to humans.

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Four black and white cows grazing on lush green grass. The sky is bright blue with fluffy white clouds.

Protecting the UK

Our facilities provide a National Capability and are unique within the UK with a complement of scientific expertise and physical resources.

National Capability

Researcher in white lab coat and purple gloved hands pipetting into an eppendorf tube

Ourscience

Our innovative fundamental and applied bioscience contributes to global food security and health, improving quality of life for animals and people.

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Engage with us

Collaborate with us to access our facilities and explore our training courses delivered by our experts in science, engineering and biosafety.

Engage with us

Facilities and resources

Discover our specialist science facilities, including unique high-containment laboratories, advanced technology platforms, and access our services and products like diagnostic testing.

Facilities and resources

Latest news

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pigs sleeping ASF african swine fever Pirbright

27 June 2025

Tools to assess the performance of FMD vaccines – driving improvements in quality

Despite widespread use of inactivated vaccines to control foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), there is no systematic approach to demonstrate the regional relevance of products against the specific serotypes and strains that circulate in endemic countries in Africa and Asia. A failure to adopt independent…

A Chef and a person stood on grass together looking at the camera. Behind them on the left is a green cylinder with metal legs. White words on the green composter read "ridan food waste composter. keeping the world turning."

21 May 2025

Mulch ado about food waste

A new composter is helping The Pirbright Institute recycle its food waste, fertilise allotments and reduce its carbon footprint. The hot aerobic composter uses no power and blends wood pellets with canteen waste to produce up to 6.5 tonnes of mulch a year on site. For every 5 kg of combined food and…

Small herd of white cattle in South Africa on dried grass. The image has a sunset haze to it.

21 May 2025

Pirbright expertise informs economic analysis for foot-and-mouth disease control

How much should policymakers invest in controlling animal diseases that spread across national borders, who should pay, and will intervention really work? A researcher at The Pirbright Institute is one of a team of seven authors who have drafted a new handbook for the Food and Agriculture…

Small young yellow chick on sawdust. Both legs have little loose yellow rings

14 May 2025

Pirbright’s openness on animal research rewarded

The Pirbright Institute’s commitment to openness on animal research has been rewarded with continued recognition from Understanding Animal Research (UAR). The three-year reaccreditation of the Institute as a Leader in Openness to 2028 marks the third renewal of the award for Pirbright (2019-2022…

This scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the U.S., emerging from the surface of cells (pink) cultured in the lab.

09 May 2025

Pirbright in £10m collaboration to fight animal and plant disease

The Pirbright Institute has joined a £10m advanced technology surveillance programme to strengthen the UK’s biosecurity and protect animals, plants, people and trade. Advanced genome sequencing technologies - a method that reads the complete genetic code of a living organism, including viruses…

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Preventing and controlling viral diseases

Viruses we study

Our research focuses on viruses that are potentially devastating for the economy, food security and the wellbeing of animals and humans.

Explore the viruses we study

Transmission electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Crown-like spikes on the outer edge of the virus particles give coronaviruses their name.

Latest research

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Bat-specific adaptations in interferon signaling and GBP1 contribute to enhanced antiviral capacity

Gonzalez V, Lobb B, Côté J, Bhuinya A, Tubb AG, Nuthalapati SS, Asavajaru A, Zhou Y, Misra V, Falzarano D, Sweeney TR, Gobeil SMC, Wang L, Doxey AC, Banerjee A.

A centralised immunogen approach to develop a more broadly protective modified live porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus 1 vaccine candidate

de Brito RCF, Sadigh Y, Bowman J, Clive S, Jackson B, Pedrera M, Crofts F, Bernard M, Lean FZX, Núñez A, Seago J, Frossard JP, Graham SP.

IFITM knockout DF1 cells produce higher influenza and newcastle disease viral yields: a proof of concept for avian origin cell-based vaccine production

Samy A, Alber A, Fife M, Hammond JA.

Clade 2.3.4.4b highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 viruses: knowns, unknowns, and challenges

Xie Z, Yang J, Jiao W, Li X, Iqbal M, Liao M, Dai M.

Gene-modified genotype II live attenuated African swine fever virus induces cross-protection against genotype I but not against genotype IX

Rathakrishnan A, Hemmink JD, Petrovan V, Reis AL, Dixon LK.

Vaccination and surveillance for high pathogenicity avian influenza in poultry-current situation and perspectives

Sajjadi NC, Abolnik C, Baldinelli F, Brown I, Cameron A, de Wit S, Dhingra M, Espeisse O, Guerin JL, Harder T, Ho J, Chua TH, Hussein K, Lyons N, Monne I, Okamuro Y, Pacheco DT, Pavade G, Poncon N, Prajitno TY, Rojas JG, Swayne D, Stegeman A.

Proliferation makes a substantive contribution to the maintenance of airway resident memory T-cell subsets in young pigs

Vatzia E, Zhang Y, Sedaghat-Rostami E, Martini V, Paudyal B, Carr BV, McNee A, Chiu C, Moffat K, Asquith B, Beverley P, Macallan D, Tchilian E.

Estimating population immunity to SARS-CoV-2 by random sampling from primary and secondary healthcare in Scotland, May 2024

McCormack MJ, Scott S, Logan N, Raveendran S, Newman J, Santos IA, Bailey D, Murcia PR, Thomson EC, Hosie MJ, Willett BJ.

Foot-and-mouth disease virus O/ME-SA/SA-2018: A new emerging threat posed by viruses circulating in Asia?

Edwards N, Shaw AE, Di Nardo A, Sowood A, Hicks HM, Wadsworth J, Parekh K, Mccarron A, Kumarawadu PL, Eltahir YM, Mohamed MS, Dahal LR, Pandey KR, Poudel N, Taylor E, Horton DL, Mioulet V, Ludi A, Knowles NJ, King DP, Lasecka-Dykes L.

An antigen panel to assess the regional relevance of foot and mouth disease vaccines

Paton DJ, Wilsden G, Browning CF, Foglia EA, Di Nardo A, Knowles NJ, Wadsworth J, Gubbins S, Chitsungo E, Boukary CRM, Ayelet G, Bodjo CS, Nwankpa N, Brocchi E, Grazioli S, Ludi A, King DP.

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