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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…

Dr Yaoyao Zhang at CN Bio using the Physiomimix technology

19 November 2020

Science Spotlight: Bringing home new technologies

After four weeks of intensive training, Dr Yaoyao Zhang departed CN Bio Innovations, a Cambridge-based bioengineering company, ready to incorporate new technology and skills into her own research at The Pirbright Institute. Dr Zhang’s training involved learning how CN Bio’s PhysioMimix™ cell culture…

IBV strain M41-CK (red) growing in Vero cells (green with blue nuclei) in the presence of trypsin

13 November 2020

Pirbright reveals new method to study poultry virus (IBV) which could reduce the need to use birds in research

An enzyme called trypsin boosts the growth of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) strains in lab cell cultures, scientists at The Pirbright Institute have shown. This finding could enable researchers to study strains of the poultry virus that were previously inaccessible and potentially provide…

Cholesterol (blue) and MDV glycoprotein B (green) in infected cells in the presence of a cholesterol inhibitor. Nuclei shown in white.

29 October 2020

Interrupting cholesterol pathway reduces Marek’s disease spread, Pirbright study shows

In a new discovery, scientists from The Pirbright Institute confirm that cholesterol production and transport play a crucial role in how Marek’s disease virus (MDV) infects poultry cells. Researchers also found that inhibiting a protein involved in this pathway can reduce virus replication and…

Nipah virus induced cell-cell fusion leads to the formation of fluorescent syncytia shown in green (multi-nucleated cells) in Pirbright’s mFIT assay

19 October 2020

Pirbright test detects antibodies that block viruses from causing cell fusion, including SARS-CoV-2

A new test developed by researchers at The Pirbright Institute, in collaboration with the University of Queensland and the University of Oxford, can detect antibodies that prevent cell-to-cell fusion, a method some viruses use to infect neighbouring cells. The new test is a valuable tool for…

15 October 2020

Pirbright partners with ECO Animal Health and The Vaccine Group to develop new PRRS vaccines

The Pirbright Institute will undertake two projects with ECO Animal Health Group plc (ECO) to develop vaccine candidates for porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome virus (PRRSV). The first project is a tripartite collaboration between The Pirbright Institute, The Vaccine Group (TVG) and ECO…

Dr Don King, head of Vesicular Disease Reference Laboratories at The Pirbright Institute

02 October 2020

Science Spotlight: Dr Don King

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dWnWLH7qO0 In a world where COVID-19 has dominated the news media and redirected the attention of many scientific endeavours, it is worth remembering that there are still many other diseases which are continuously monitored to control and prevent devastating…

Human bronchial epithelial cells with staining for RSV protein (green), NFKB p65 (red) and DNA (blue).

22 September 2020

Pirbright discovers respiratory virus steals proteins to halt antiviral response

Viruses have evolved many ways to avoid detection by the immune system. A recent study by scientists at The Pirbright Institute has revealed that both bovine and human respiratory syncytial viruses (bRSV and hRSV respectively) capture a protein that is important for the antiviral response…

Influenza filamentous and globular (shown in brown)

15 September 2020

Increasing infectious bronchitis virus vaccine heat resilience could improve performance, Pirbright scientists reveal

Two recent studies from The Pirbright Institute and the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute show that two vaccines against specific strains of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) do not offer complete protection against a third strain, and that this may be partly down to the temperature range…

cells infected with infectious bronchitis (blue nucleus, red virus)

24 August 2020

Pirbright scientists contribute to new coronavirus book

Pirbright scientists have edited and authored chapters in a new book titled ‘Coronaviruses’ which provides detailed information about the Coronaviridae family as well as laboratory techniques currently used in the field to study them. Whilst coronaviruses have long been known to cause devasting…

Featured news

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

Nurturing emerging leaders in science

Latest news

Science Spotlight: Bringing home new technologies

Pirbright reveals new method to study poultry virus (IBV) which could reduce the need to use birds in research

Interrupting cholesterol pathway reduces Marek’s disease spread, Pirbright study shows

Pirbright test detects antibodies that block viruses from causing cell fusion, including SARS-CoV-2

Pirbright partners with ECO Animal Health and The Vaccine Group to develop new PRRS vaccines

Science Spotlight: Dr Don King

Pirbright discovers respiratory virus steals proteins to halt antiviral response

Bird flu mutations reduce antiviral drug effectiveness, Pirbright study reveals

Contaminated surroundings risk foot-and-mouth disease spread

Pirbright paves way for disease resistant mosquitoes

Increasing infectious bronchitis virus vaccine heat resilience could improve performance, Pirbright scientists reveal

Pirbright scientists contribute to new coronavirus book