The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the United Kingdom’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) announced five jointly funded research awards that total more than $2.3 million from NIFA and £2.3 million British pounds ($3,502,683 equivalent) from the BBSRC for the US-UK Collaborative Animal Health and Disease and Veterinary Immune Reagents program. This US-UK partnership addresses high impact diseases and animal health issues relevant to both countries.

“As a leading livestock producing nation, the health of the people in the United States and around the world depends on the safety, security, and quality of the livestock we produce,” said Sonny Ramaswamy, NIFA director. “These grants enable an international research partnership that looks to control the spread of pathogens, ensuring we can effectively reduce the health risks and environmental impacts of food production worldwide.”

Steve Visscher, BBSRC Deputy Chief Executive, International, said: “A growing world population means that safe and secure food supplies are going to become more and more important in the years to come. The scale of such challenges require increased international collaboration, and this partnership of co-investment between BBSRC and NIFA will allow world-leading researchers in both countries to work together to combat livestock diseases and safeguard food supplies.”

Animal health and disease:
Research on emerging diseases and diseases of agriculturally relevant animals of high economic consequence in both the U.S. and U.K. (viral, bacterial, and parasitic diseases)
Alternatives to current antimicrobials and anthelmintics used to treat disease in agricultural animals in both the U.S. and U.K.
Veterinary immune reagents:
Development of publicly accessible immunological reagents for agriculturally-relevant animal species.

A complete list of the awards can be found here.