The Swine Health Information Center released its 2025 Plan of Work in January, outlining key priorities to protect the health of the US swine herd in the current year. The Plan of Work emphasizes a proactive approach to addressing emerging disease threats and enhancing biosecurity measures within the US swine industry. On March 5, 2025, SHIC issued a request for 2025 Plan of Work research proposals with a submission deadline of April 30, 2025. A record 57 proposals were received from 19 organizations (14 universities, one government entity, and four private companies). Proposals will undergo competitive review for funding recommendations based on value to US pork producers.
Research priorities and topics identified in the 2025 Plan of Work help SHIC fulfill its mission to generate new knowledge for preventing, preparing, mitigating, and responding to emerging swine disease threats.
The 57 proposals are expected to address the specific research priorities described in the March RFP, including topics such as transport biosecurity, reduction of disease risk at the packing plant lairage and unloading docks, investigation of novel technologies for trailer sanitation, assessment of biosecurity risk for cull sow and secondary markets, identifying early disease outbreak warning signals, evaluation of wastewater as a surveillance tool, environmental sample types with low labor requirements for emerging disease surveillance, genome-based diagnostic technologies for emerging disease detection and forensic analysis, and investigating the clinical relevance of newly identified agents from veterinary diagnostic lab submissions.
Upon completion of the competitive review process, project awards are expected to be announced in late summer 2025. Projects demonstrating the most urgent and timeliness of completion, providing the greatest value to US pork producers, and showing efficient use of funds are prioritized for funding. Results will be shared with producers and veterinarians as soon as they become available. The intent of this RFP was to encourage researchers to develop and submit proposals specifically addressing identified priorities, broaden awareness of funding opportunities to advance SHIC’s 2025 Plan of Work, expand the scientific network of researchers and institutions conducting critical research on emerging swine diseases, and drive innovation to help protect the health of the US swine herd. Funding timely research is an essential component of SHIC providing practical and applicable project outcomes that drive action for producers and veterinarians to prevent, prepare, and mitigate emerging swine diseases.
The Swine Health Information Center, launched in 2015 with Pork Checkoff funding, protects and enhances the health of the US swine herd by minimizing the impact of emerging disease threats through preparedness, coordinated communications, global disease monitoring, analysis of swine health data, and targeted research investments. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. For more information, visit http://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Megan Niederwerder at [email protected] or Dr. Lisa Becton at [email protected].
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