We must all agree that vaccines play an important role in building a robust and productive global swine industry – the vaccination programs conducted by most pig farms are crucial for protecting animals from diseases and boosting their immune systems. As it is such an important topic, we analyze the very root of its process in this episode: the way vaccines are developed. I have a pleasant talk with Dr. Heather Wilson, who serves as a Research Scientist at VIDO and whose current research focuses on using intrauterine immunization to promote mucosal immunity, having a pig as an animal model. She walks us through her work of finding novel vaccine formulations (including novel adjuvants and T-cell epitope prediction in pigs for subunit vaccines) and delivery (such as intrauterine vaccination).

"The more we learn about animal immunology and physiology, the more ideas we can come up with for developing vaccine formulations." – Dr. Heather Wilson

What you’ll learn:

• (00:00) Highlight
• (01:23) Introduction
• (02:50) Research on vaccine development
• (10:18) Intrauterine immunization
• (19:13) Measuring vaccine effectiveness
• (22:03) What is the best time to vaccinate sows?
• (26:16) Tracking particular viruses
• (29:54) Thoughts on subunit vaccines
• (33:31) The next steps in vaccine research
• (36:56) Three final questions

Meet the guest: Dr. Heather Wilson

Experience:

• Research Scientist at VIDO (Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization)

Background:

• Ph.D., Biochemistry (University of Saskatchewan)
• M.Sc., Biochemistry (University of Saskatchewan)
• B.Sc., Biochemistry (University of Saskatchewan)

Connect with the guest: VIDO

𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀, 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺.

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