Medgene Labs, a leading animal health company, has secured grant funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), for its innovative research on the Asian long-horned tick and its capacity to transmit diseases in livestock.
The grant will allow Medgene to utilize its unique platform technology in crafting and testing vaccine strategies to halt the proliferation of diseases transmitted by the tick. These ticks have been recognized as important disease vectors, causing severe impacts on livestock and wild animal populations.
Dr. Alan Young, Medgene’s Chief Technology Officer, has been dedicated to researching parasite-borne diseases since 2013. His focus has been primarily on tickborne diseases and their impact on whitetail deer populations. Young acknowledged the importance of the USDA-NIFA partnership in addressing urgent animal health issues across the U.S.
The company’s vaccine strategies hinge on a USDA-approved “platform technology,” which can be safely and efficiently tailored to target multiple animal diseases. This methodology accelerates vaccine development and enhances understanding of disease transmission among species and across geographical boundaries.
With the grant notification received in April, Medgene is set to commence field research in the summer. The eight-month study will be facilitated in collaboration with an independently-operated research facility. A global team of experts in the field of tick-borne diseases will support it.
Professor Jose d la Fuente, a renowned expert in Molecular Biology & Biotechnology at the University of Castilla – La Mancha in Ciudad Real, Spain, lauded Medgene’s research efforts. However, he emphasized the crucial need for more effective methods to control ticks and the diseases they carry in the animal health industry.
Upon completion of the research, Medgene plans to integrate the findings into its current portfolio of platform technology-based vaccines. Furthermore, the company intends to apply the insights from this study to other tickborne diseases, such as Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, thereby broadening its impact on controlling tick-borne diseases.
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