News

Read the latest news and updates from The Pirbright Institute.

Go to main content

Filters

Filters

Enter keywords

Select virus

Select month

Select researcher

Featured news

Pirbight's Plowright building from afar with wild plants in front

15 November 2024

Pirbright welcomes two successful Doctoral Landscape Awards in life and environmental sciences

The Pirbright Institute is celebrating two major doctoral training initiatives funded by the UKRI Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), each offering unique opportunities for the next generation of scientists. These programmes…

Close up of a pipette tip in a well of gel electrophoresis. Blue liquid is visible in the wells.

14 November 2024

Nurturing emerging leaders in science

Two talented Pirbright researchers have been awarded with Strategic Career Development Awards (SCDAs) to advance their research and career trajectories. Dr Rory Fortes de Brito, a Senior Postdoctoral researcher in the Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) Immunology group and Dr Lidia…

Latest news

23 December 2019

Rinderpest destruction, what happens next?

In June 2019 The Pirbright Institute destroyed the last samples of rinderpest virus held in the World Reference Laboratory for rinderpest. This completed a major milestone in the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) programme to…

Goats being herded by Maasai

05 September 2019

New peste des petits ruminants field test developed by Pirbright scientists

A new method for detecting peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) in the field has been developed by scientists at The Pirbright Institute. The novel diagnostic test is as reliable as laboratory tests, provides rapid results and is easy to use in the field. These features will help improve…

Pirbright destroys final rinderpest virus samples

On 14 June 2019, scientists at The Pirbright Institute destroyed the final archive stocks of rinderpest virus held in the World Reference Laboratory for Rinderpest. This completed a major milestone in the World Organisation for Animal Health ( OIE) and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United…

26 February 2019

Pirbright scientists show re-emerged bluetongue strain still poses a threat

Scientists at The Pirbright Institute have shown that the strain of bluetongue virus (BTV) currently circulating in France poses a threat to susceptible animals in Europe, despite causing less clinical disease than the original BTV-8 strain responsible for the first UK bluetongue outbreak in 2007…

01 October 2018

Pirbright reference lab detects bluetongue in two imported cattle

Bluetongue virus type 8 was successfully identified in two imported cattle recently by the National Reference Laboratory for Bluetongue virus, part of the Non-Vesicular Disease Reference Laboratory Group’s diagnostic facilities here at Pirbright, and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). The…

Marwell Energy for Life exhibit by Pirbright

Pirbright and Marwell Zoo show how climate change could increase disease risk in the UK

The good health of animals is Marwell Zoo’s highest priority, but how can Marwell protect its residents against exotic diseases? Scientists at The Pirbright Institute have helped to create an exhibit in the Zoo’s new Tropical House to explain how climate change may increase the risk of diseases…

pig lying in hay pirbright

Pirbright scientists help combat African swine fever - a disease with no vaccine

African swine fever (ASF) continues to spread throughout eastern and central Europe, and China has now recorded its first outbreak. China is home to over half the world’s pig population (around 500 million pigs) so any potential spread throughout China and neighbouring countries would be devastating…

Cows in a field at Pirbright Compton site

02 February 2018

Pirbright helps demonstrate the UK remains free from bluetongue virus

Scientists at The Pirbright Institute have played a key role in providing assurance that the UK remains free from bluetongue following the positive test results of four cattle which had moved from France into the north of England and Scotland in October 2017 without sufficient vaccination proof. BTV…

Maintaining global freedom from rinderpest

The 3rd International Meeting on ‘Maintaining Global Freedom from Rinderpest’ was held in Kathmandu, Nepal on 14-16 June 2017. The meeting brought together a global audience, including a group of scientists from The Pirbright Institute, who discussed plans for controlling the risk of rinderpest re…

Pirbright scientists train Tanzanian centre to gain OIE status

Scientists from The Pirbright Institute are paving the way for a regional OIE (World Organisation for Animal Health) reference laboratory in Tanzania by training local scientists to further advance their diagnostic capability of Peste des petit ruminants virus (PPRV) in the field and laboratory. Dr…