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Disease mechanisms: The aim of this work is to provide increased understanding of how pathogens (viruses, bacteria and parasites) interact with their host to cause disease. This new knowledge will underpin the development of next-generation control strategies for a range of infectious diseases of importance to livestock production both nationally and internationally. A broad range of questions will be addressed, with a particular focus on the role of the livestock host immune system in the disease process, the identification of new diagnostic markers of disease and the mechanisms involved in
Disease has a detrimental effect on animal health and welfare and causes substantial losses in production. In order to assess the effectiveness of control measures and determine their economic impact, a quantification of the level of disease and/ or health status is needed. This research aims to provide improved baseline measurements of disease and health status (current and future) as well as cost-effective biosecurity management tools through investigating specific areas: estimates of health status and disease prevalence by optimising the use of data already available; the application of
Our aim is to provide an evidence base for advice to farmers on the best approaches to improve the welfare of their animals. Guided by Scottish Government (RESAS) priorities, our work covers two specific areas, covering 4 species of commercial importance: The management of feeding in pregnant breeding animals (sows and beef cattle) to optimise the health, welfare and production of the mother and her offspring. Reducing pain in two species: In laying hens – investigating housing methods to improve welfare by reducing the need for beak trimming; and in lambs reducing the need for, and
Research interests: •My major area of work since joining SRUC has been on verocytotoxigenic E. coli O157, with particular responsibility for field work in this area. Together with colleagues at the ERU and with consortium partners from other institutions, I am currently writing up the results of a prevalence survey of E. coli O157 among British farms that produce cattle intended for the food chain. •I am interested in antimicrobial usage and resistance and how the livestock industry can approach the challenges presented by resistance whilst maintaining animal health and welfare, as well as
My research uses animal behaviour as a way to measure animal welfare, or to understand and solve animal welfare problems which involve behaviour. Behaviour-related welfare problems in pigs: social aggression, tail biting and mounting, and genetics of animal temperament in relation to these problems. Hunger in ration-fed animals (dry sows and broiler breeder chickens). Using behaviour, motivation, neurophysiology and gut physiology to understand, measure and ameliorate the problem. Precision livestock farming- collaborating to develop and validate agri-technology such as machine vision cameras
To improve assessment of animal welfare in order to be able to characterise where animals are experiencing a net positive Quality of Life: Welfare of farmed livestock is an important ethical concern. Policy interest in the concept of 'positive welfare’ underlies our work. For this we aim to develop innovative welfare assessment techniques that improve our assessment of positive and negative welfare and overall Quality of Life. We also work on a better understanding of what positive welfare means biologically for different animal species and how different stakeholders understand what is meant
Rob is a senior crop physiologist and biochemist at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee. In his current role he works across a range of crops to identify physiological and biochemical mechanisms underpinning crop yield and quality in response to the biotic and abiotic environment. He works extensively with geneticists and breeders where his mechanistic insights facilitate the identification of genetic markers underpinning agronomic traits.
My interest and expertise lies in quantitative agricultural and environmental science. The current areas of my work are: BVD, its eradication and sample size calculation for screening for BVD Antimicrobial resistance and its measurement The consequence of empirically derived contact networks in cattle on the spread of disease
Sanjeev is a member of the Potato Genetics and Breeding group at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee - specialising in the field of potato genetics and genomics including next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics, genome-wide association studies and genomic selection. He was actively involved in the international potato genome sequencing project notably construction of the reference potato chromosome-scale pseudomolecules. Currently, he is exploiting novel genetic and sequence-based genotyping approaches for trait analyses and allele mining in potato targeting economically important and