Published: 20 Oct 2020 | Last Updated: 21 Oct 2020 10:35:28

Professor Dirk Werling has been awarded a BBSRC LIDo iCase studentship with Dr Jon Cuccui (LSHTM) and Boehringer Ingelheim. 

PhD student, Joanna Myslinska, will be working on "Identification of carbohydrate structures expressed by Mycoplasma hyopneunomiae and M.hyorhinis as potential vaccine antigens".    Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyopneumoniae) is the primary pathogen of enzootic pneumonia, a chronic respiratory disease in pigs. Infections occur worldwide and cause major economic losses to the pig industry. The destruction of the mucociliary apparatus, together with modulating the immune response, enhances the susceptibility of infected pigs to secondary pathogens. The currently available vaccines are often cost-efficient, but the ongoing research on developing new vaccines that confer protective immunity and reduce transmission should be continued, as well as optimization of protocols to eliminate M. hyopneumoniae from pig herds. Here, the funded project aims to assess the importance of carbohydrate structures expressed in the lung of pigs, their involvement in Mycoplasma infection, and their potential use for novel vaccine design.