Location: Exotic & Emerging Avian Viral Diseases Research
Project Number: 6040-32000-082-002-T
Project Type: Trust Fund Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Nov 1, 2018
End Date: Oct 31, 2023
Objective:
The objective of the collaboration is to expand genetic databases by performing genetic characterization, and to improve forensic epidemiology capabilities of viruses circulating in South America. This research will help to identify additional agents that co-infect poultry in the field as well as virulent Newcastle disease virus (NDV) variants strains that may be capable of escaping vaccination.
Approach:
The approach is to collect clinical field samples of suspected infected birds from South America and have nucleic acids from those samples shipped to the Southeast Poultry Research Laboratory (SEPRL) of the USDA in Athens, Georgia. SEPRL will extract nucleic acids, prepare samples for sequencing and sequence total RNA from the samples. Raw data obtained from random sequencing done using Nexgen sequencing platforms will be electronically transferred to Boehringer for bioinformatics and phylogenetic characterization. Bioinformatics analysis will be performed by a private contractor outside the scope of this agreement.
