Dr Carrie Batten

Dr Carrie Batten is Head of the Non-Vesicular Reference Laboratory and is a designated the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) expert for bluetongue virus. Dr Batten leads the UK National Reference Laboratories for bluetongue, African horse sickness, African swine fever, morbilliviruses and capripoxviruses working closely with the other OIE disease specific experts. She has a background in microbiology and virology (University of Plymouth, University of Southampton School of Medicine, UK), and has research interests in improving diagnostics and control of transboundary veterinary diseases.

From a practical perspective, work within the group primarily focuses on the diagnosis of veterinary viruses, but also validates and applies new technologies for the detection and characterisation of important livestock disease. These methods underpin the routine diagnostic work of the Reference Laboratory at The Pirbright Institute and are also used to monitor the global patterns of disease, and to recognise new emerging viral lineages that pose threats to the UK and Europe.

The group is currently responsible for The Pirbright Institute’s rinderpest virus archive and has worked with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and OIE to sequence and destroy archive virus stocks of rinderpest. Dr Batten acts as secretariat for the Rinderpest Holding Facility Network.

In response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, Dr Batten has helped lead the Institute’s diagnostic commitment by organising volunteering opportunities for staff at Public Health England (PHE) and National Health Service (NHS) laboratories.