SHIC Issues Call for Research Funding Proposals: Bioexclusion and Biocontainment

The Swine Health Information Center (SHIC) 2021 Plan of Work includes the investigation of biocontainment and bioexclusion as tools to help prevent or control an emerging swine disease outbreak on farms. To achieve this objective, SHIC is soliciting proposals to investigate cost-effective, innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to implement biocontainment in the face of an emerging disease outbreak on swine farms. SHIC is also soliciting proposals to investigate cost-effective, innovative technologies, protocols, or ideas to implement bioexclusion to prevent or control an emerging disease outbreak on swine farms.

Biocontainment, as defined in medical dictionaries, usually refers to procedures needed to contain pathogens in laboratories. The SHIC 2021 Plan of Work addresses biocontainment saying, “Decreasing the amount of pathogens from leaving an outbreak site will help to protect neighboring farms and regions from emerging disease outbreaks. Assessing existing technologies or new ideas for cost-effectiveness will help inform producers’ decisions about implementation.”

Effective biocontainment methodologies may be applied to a variety of viruses and/or bacteria, may be applied dependent upon expected transmission mode(s), or may be dependent on the epidemiology of the pathogen(s).  Therefore, the biocontainment proposal should:

There is a pool of approximately $100,000 available for the biocontainment research, but individual project proposals could be higher with sufficient justification. Collaborative projects demonstrating the most urgency and timeliness of completion, as well as efficient use of funds, will be prioritized for funding. The proposal template and instructions for completion and submission can be found here. The deadline for proposal submission is 5:00 PM CDT, May 7, 2021. 

Bioexclusion refers to procedures needed to prevent entry of a pathogen or disease and contact with a population of animal, a part of biosecurity. Specifically, SHIC would like proposals that address the following 2021 Plan of Work items:

There is a pool of approximately $150,000 available for the bioexclusion research, but individual project proposals could be higher with sufficient justification. Collaborative projects demonstrating the most urgency and timeliness of completion, as well as efficient use of funds, will be prioritized for funding. The proposal template and instructions for completion and submission can be found here. The deadline for proposal submission is 5:00 PM CDT, May 14, 2021. 

For questions on these requests for research funding proposals, contact Dr. Paul Sundberg at [email protected] or (515) 451-6652.

As the world deals with the COVID-19 pandemic, SHIC continues to focus efforts on prevention, preparedness, and response to novel and emerging swine disease for the benefit of US swine health. As a conduit of information and research, SHIC encourages sharing of its publications and research. Forward, reprint, and quote SHIC material freely. SHIC is funded by America’s pork producers to fulfill its mission to protect and enhance the health of the US swine herd. For more information, visit http://www.swinehealth.org or contact Dr. Sundberg at [email protected].