Bob is head of Carbon Management at SRUC, and a professor in Agriculture and Climate Change, with research that focuses on greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient cycling.
David is a senior principal scientist at the Moredun Research Institute and his current research interests include: understanding the mechanisms by which chlamydial pathogens cause disease and the interaction between host and pathogen; identifying and characterising the components that can be used in the control of chlamydial infections through genomic, bioinformatic, molecular and proteomic approaches; and development of improved control strategies for Ovine Chlamydiosis, including improved vaccines, vaccine delivery systems and diagnostic tools.
David is a principal scientist at the Moredun Institute, and has a longstanding interest in retroviral pathogenesis and his current research focusses on understanding the pathogenesis of ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma and the development of diagnostic tests for controlling disease.
Andrew is a research leader in cell and molecular sciences at the James Hutton Institute. His current research interests include the production of novel diagnostics and vaccine candidates using plants, bacteria and nanotechnology; ciruclar bioeconomy, revalorization of waste streams and development of new biotechnologies; and involvement of nuclear domains and proteins in plant responses to virus infections and environmental cues.
Alison is a research leader in ecological sciences at the James Hutton Institute. Alison is an agroecologist with 20 years research experience in plant production and ecology, with a focus on agroecosystem biodiversity and pest biocontrol under reduced inputs and climate change. Her research interests are driven by the wider challenges of how to enchance ecosystem service provision in agroecosystems and optimise sustainable crop production.
This case study will summarise ongoing research on Teladorsagia circumcincta, one of the most common and economically important endemic parasites to control in sheep in the UK. SEFARI scientists have found that as temperatures gradually get warmer there could be a ‘tipping point’ where parasite burdens suddenly get a lot higher. Our scientists have also shown that climate change can increase parasite burdens, these parasite burdens can substantially drive-up greenhouse gas emissions, and ineffective parasite control can lead to further increases in emissions.
My long-standing interest in less-invasive techniques to study ruminant nutrition has developed into a range of projects looking at biomarkers in accessible samples - including milk, urine, faeces and breath. The work is highly relevant to two major technological developments in animal science (i) the need for cheap and high-throughput phenotyping to exploit new genomic information; and (ii) rapid advances in the use of monitoring and sensing equipment on-farm (precision livestock farming).
My overall research interest is to unravel the host animal genomic architecture affecting complex performance traits in livestock. At present my main research interest is to reveal the influence of the gut microbiome on methane emissions, feed conversion efficiency, meat quality, animal health and behavioural traits, and how the host animal shapes the microbiome associated with those traits.