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In January 2024, the Swine Health Information Center issued a formal request for proposals inviting submissions to specifically address 11 of the 36 research priorities and topics published in its 2024 Plan of Work. Areas of research spanned across three of the Center’s five strategic priorities, including monitoring and mitigating risks to swine health, responding to emerging disease, and surveillance and discovery of emerging disease. Proposals were due March 1, 2024, and a competitive review process for value to the pork industry by a SHIC working group will provide funding recommendations. A total of 43 proposals from 21 institutions were received by the deadline.
“Through targeted research investments, SHIC is striving to drive innovation in the pork industry for the protection and enhancement of US swine herd health,” remarked SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder. “The formal RFP received an outstanding response, providing an opportunity to recruit a broad net of research ideas to generate new knowledge in the field of emerging swine diseases.”
Research outcomes from the projects to be funded from this request for proposals will provide critical information and resources to help pork producers as they face emerging disease challenges in their swine herds. Research priorities and topics identified in the SHIC 2024 Plan of Work help the organization fulfill its mission to generate new intelligence for preventing, preparing, and responding to emerging swine disease threats. Funding available for the SHIC 2024 Plan of Work Research Program priorities included in this RFP is $1.1 million. Individual awards are anticipated to be between $50,000 and $150,000.
The specific research priorities included in the January RFP were high-risk product importation and traveler entry at US borders, cull sow and secondary market biosecurity, engineering biosecurity through site construction or renovation, disease spillover risks from wean-to-market pigs to sow herds, understanding the impact of porcine circoviruses, identifying early disease outbreak warning signals, diagnostic assays for confirming cleaning/disinfection protocols, expansion of population based sample types for emerging disease testing, pan-diagnostic assay development, environmental sample types for emerging disease surveillance, and investigating the clinical relevance of newly identified agents from veterinary diagnostic lab submissions.
Through the RFP process, SHIC’s goals were to encourage researchers to develop and submit proposals that specifically addressed the identified priorities, broaden awareness of funding opportunities to advance its 2024 Plan of Work, and expand the scientific network of researchers and institutions conducting critical research on emerging swine diseases. Funding timely research is an essential component of SHIC providing project outcomes that drive action for emerging disease prevention, preparedness, and mitigation.
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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