Dr Chris Netherton

Chris Netherton leads the African Swine Fever Vaccinology group and has been investigating different aspects of the life cycle of African swine fever virus (ASFV) for over twenty-five years. Chris in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affair’s Disease Consultant for African swine fever and the World Organisation for Animal Health Disease Expert for African swine fever at the Pirbright Institute. Chris’ studies on ASFV have encompassed analysis of individual viral proteins right through to herd transmission experiments.

One of the main goals of the research carried out within the African Swine Fever Vaccinology group is to support the development of effective vaccines against this devastating disease of domestic pigs. We have identified a pool of eight ASFV genes that prevent severe disease in domestic pigs and aim to improve the protective efficacy of this combination, by characterising immune correlates of protection, identifying additional protective antigens and exploring different vaccine platforms. We are also sequencing Pirbright's reference collection of ASFV isolates to improve our understanding of the genetic diversity of this complex virus and help guide the development of cross-protective vaccines.

The African Swine Fever Vaccinology group is collaborating with the Tom Burdon’s group at the Roslin Institute to use stem-cell derived macrophages to explore mechanisms of host tolerance, susceptibility and resistant to African swine fever. The aim of this work is to identify routes to develop disease resistant animals, either through breeding or precision engineering.