Research areas

The principal areas of research are:

• The host animal's immune response (characterisation of the humoral and cellular response).
• Genetic and antigenic characterisation of the micro organism (sequencing of the regions of the viral genome; expression and detection of proteins of potential interest in immunisation and diagnosis).
• The development of vaccines, diagnostic tests and epidemiological control programmes (inoculant vaccination; routes and patterns of immunisation; development and implementation of diagnostic tests, and epidemiological studies).

Within these three research areas we are specifically working towards three fundamental objectives, currently focussed on:

• Identification of the immune response (in species of livestock such as sheep to the Maedi-Visna virus and other micro-organisms) in different stages of infection (natural subclinical, clinical and post vaccination): humoral response (through different tests for the detection of antibodies) and cellular response (fundamentally through lymphoproliferation in response to viral antigens, detection of cytotoxic cells and the proportion of IFNg/IL4).
• Genetic and antigenic characterisation of the microorganism and their implications in pathogenicity, diagnosis and vaccination.
• Biotechnological development of vaccines (vaccination with DNA using biolistic methods, with PEI particles etc) and diagnostic tests (PCR of different regions of the microorganisms genome) which improve the control of the infection.

The current specific objectives of our research are embodied in the following research projects:

• Evaluation of vaccination strategies using DNA against lentivirus in sheep. EU: QLK2-CT-2002-00617. Key action 2 (Control of Infectious diseases) in the Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources of the V Framework programme. This European project is evaluating different vaccination strategies through the study of immune responses and the degree of protection conferred by immunisation against experimental infection with the Maedi-Visna virus.
• Contribution to prophylactic vaccination and diagnosis of small ruminant lentivirus infection (Project CICYT: AGL2003-08977-C03). Subproject 01: use of modulators to immunise against the Maedi Visna virus and contribution to early diagnosis of infection by this virus. The project aims to determine the role of co-stimulator molecules in immunisation against the Maedi-Visna virus. The following objective also apply in the area of diagnosis:
• Genetic characterisation and phylogenetic study of lentivirus of small Spanish ruminants (in cooperation with Associations of ovine races (ARANA, ASLANA, ANGRA and ITGGanadero) and Spanish and foreign research teams.
• Study of role of semen using artificial insemination as a vehicle of transmitting Maedi Visna ovine lentivirus (in cooperation with Livestock Department, ITGanadero and Artificial Insemination Centre of the Government of Navarra and livestock companies.)
• Comparative study of milk and serum for the serological study of Maedi Visna infection (in cooperation with the Lactology Institute of Lekunberri, ARANA, ASLANA, ANGRA, ITGGanadero and Agroalimentation Research Service of Zaragoza).