Archive

Professor Julie Fitzpatrick OBE has been appointed Chief Scientific Advisor for Scotland.

The Nematodirus Forecast provided by the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group has been proving invaluable to vets, advisors and farmers, in what has been a slow-but-steady year of risk for 2021-born lambs.
 

A multinational team of researchers have been awarded €2M from the EU Horizon 2020 network to share knowledge and improve uptake of new digital technologies which will help to increase the efficiency and sustainability of small ruminant farming systems in

Using a faecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) to test for wormer resistance on farm is an important step, say the Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group – but it is important not to panic if the results come back showing triple resistance.

Free service for sheep farmers and advisors could reduce lamb mortality this spring

Worming ewes around lambing remains a common practice in UK flocks, but with most sheep farmers now aware that over-use of wormers is a major factor in the development of anthelmintic resistance, SCOPS is urging producers to think about whether they can safely reduce th

Following a recent inspection by the Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA), we are pleased to have received an extension to our GLP certification to include Environmental Toxicology studies.

Our latest Animal Health news is now available:

Animal Health news– winter 2021

Scientists at Moredun Research Institute and the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, have joined forces to develop three-dimensional cell cultures which mimic the stomach of cattle.

We have an exciting opportunity for a PhD studentship in the Aquaculture area.

A successful two-year study led by Moredun scientists with partners from Edinburgh University and Food Standards Scotland (FSS), together with incredible support from the deer industry, has resulted in the publication of a report which addresses knowledge gaps and leads to a better understanding

Animal Agri-Tech start-up Senesino has won the opportunity to work with the UK’s leading retailer, Tesco, and its supply chain partners, after the Tesco Agri T-Jam was run for a third year in partnership with the World Agri-Tech Innovation Summit.

An EASTBIO Doctoral Training Partnership PhD studentship has been awarded to Moredun to investigate ways to optimise parasite control in hill and upland sheep.

We’re looking for UK sheep farmers to participate in the  UK’s largest survey of ‘joint ill’ in lambs funded by the University of Liverpool, AHDB Beef and Lamb, and in collaboration with The Moredun Research Institute.

A grant worth almost half a million pounds has been awarded to the Moredun Research Institute to develop a novel way of studying poultry red mites which greatly reduces the number of hens required.

The Moredun Foundation, the governing body of Moredun Research Institute, was delighted to award two honorary fellowships to David Danson and David Smith at its AGM held on Thursday 3^rd of September in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the Moredun Group.

The Moredun Foundation (TMF) and The Equine Grass Sickness Fund (EGSF) have joined forces to launch an innovative three year Fellowship to breathe fresh thinking and multi-disciplinary approaches into Equine Grass Sickness (EGS) research.

The parasite Cryptosporidium parvum is a zoonotic pathogen that can be spread between animals and humans causing disease.

Parasite infections are an economic, health and welfare concern in all livestock systems and many are endemic in UK flocks and herds.

Moredun researchers Dr Lynsey Melville, Dr Dave Bartley and Dr Giles Innocent have been carrying out work supported by the Animal and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) on the control and biology of Nematodirus battus: a gut roundworm which annually threatens the health and welfare o

Jonathan Shepherd has been appointed to the board of Moredun Scientific as a non-executive director bringing extensive experience of the aquaculture industry to the company.

The following is a joint press release from Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) and Control of Cattle Parasites Sustainably (COWS)

The Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) group has warned sheep farmers to be increasingly vigilant as the risk from a number of parasite species increases across the UK.

We continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 situation. Our teams are working with strict social distancing measures in place to ensure we can maintain a full complement of staff as far as possible.

Patron of The Moredun Foundation, HRH The Princess Royal (Princess Anne), has sent a letter of support and appreciation to each of her patronages across the UK, as further restrictions due to Covid-19 come into play.

(Updated 24th March 2020)

Following the latest UK Government instructions issued on 23rd March 2020, access to the Moredun Research Institute is now restricted.

An exciting partnership has been launched between Moredun and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) to tackle the problem of louping ill, an often fatal tick-borne virus to which sheep and red grouse are particularly susceptible.

Improving pig and poultry production was the focus of a new event that took place near Edinburgh on 16 January 2020.

Moredun Prinicpal Investigator, Dr Philip Skuce, visited Bigton Farm on Shetland in August 2019. Here, he describes his experience:

After years of initial planning and preliminary studies, a unique nationwide field trial for a vaccine for the prevention of Equine Grass Sickness (EGS) has been completed.

Our latest disease news sheet "Bovine Neosporosis" is now available to view on the Member's Portal.

A new study recently published in Journal of Virology has identified genetic changes occurring during the growth of lung cancer in sheep that improve understanding of how the disease develops. This could help lead to earlier diagnosis of the disease in sheep and in humans.

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal attended a special event held today (Monday 21^st October) at Pentlands Science Park to celebrate Moredun’s commitment to the contribution of livestock to food production, biodiversity and the environment.

We will be at Aquaculture Europe in Berlin from October 7^th – 19th to showcase our Aquaculture testing services which support developments in fish health, welfare, nutrition and disease control.

We hope to see you there.

Moredun Research Institute has signed an agreement with Roslin Technologies, Scotland’s Rural College and the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh, to fund the commercial development of an E. coli O157:H7 vaccine for cattle to prevent life-threatening illnesses in humans.

Over 100 farmers gathered at Connachan on Wednesday 28^th August for the Moredun, National Sheep Association (NSA) and MSD Animal Health national hill sheep event, kindly hosted by Mary McCall Smith and Scott MacAulay.

The following article was written by Ekta Patel, Communications Manager for the International Livestock Research Institute, and can be found on their news page (see link to the right.)

A highly informative and interesting farm event drew the crowds at Ruthven Farm, Tomintoul.

The blood test has been developed by Prof Jacqui Matthews’ group at the Moredun Research Institute (MRI), the main funder being The Horse Trust.

Pentlands Science Park Apprentice Engineer, Marcel came 5^th in the Heating & Ventilation Welding Category at the BESA Scotland Apprentice Awards 2019 which were held at the Scottish Parliament on 20^th June.

The Pancreas Disease Trination initiative was established in 2005 with the aims to integrate and focus the activities of academia and industry from Norway, Ireland, Scotland and more recently other salmon farming regions.

New research published by scientists at the Moredun Research Institute and the Universities of Stirling, Lancaster and Edinburgh shows that, for at least one population, the link between offspring and infections can have deadly consequences.

We are pleased to announce that an inspection by the Medicines and Healthcare  Regulatory Authority earlier this month confirmed that Moredun Scientific’s operations are compliant with the principles and guidelines of good manufacturing practice in relation to contract quality control services.

We are pleased to announce that the latest edition of our Animal Health Newsletter is now available at the link below:

Animal Health Newsletter – Winter Edition

A project undertaken by the Moredun Research Institute and the University of Edinburgh into harmful E. coli O157 bacteria in Scotland’s wild deer has established that the bacteria has a low prevalence in deer of less than 0.3 per cent.

Moredun Research Institute (MRI) and Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) have set out plans for their new strategic partnership to benefit Scotland’s livestock and farming industries.

Researchers at the Moredun Research Institute have led an international team to publish the genome of the poultry red mite Dermanyssus gallinae.

Livestock are a very important part of the agricultural economy of Tanzania and support the livelihoods of many families by contributing to the national food supply and food security and the provision of draught power and manure to support crop production.  Tanzania has around 21 million cattle,

Moredun Scientific has been awarded funding through the Eurostars-2 program to collaborate with Swedish based Intervacc to support the further development of Intervacc`s innovative vaccine to protect piglets against infection caused by the bacterial pathogen Streptococcus suis.

Scientists at Moredun are working on a collaborative project to develop a new vaccine to protect livestock against foot and mouth disease (FMD).

Moredun Scientific is celebrating 30 years of providing contract research and testing services to the global animal health and biopharmaceutical industries.

A recent publication shows the results of a study treating experimentally induced bovine respiratory disease in calves with a new combined therapeutic product.

We are delighted to announce that Fight the Fluke, the latest addition to our hugely popular animation series, will be launched at the National Sheep Association Sheep Event next week (18^th July).

A collaborative study between Moredun and the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies has identified the first case of resistance to monepantel (trade name Zolvix®) in the UK.

We are pleased to announce that the latest edition of our Animal Health Newsletter is now available at the link below:

Animal Health Newsletter – Spring Edition

The Moredun Foundation Equine Grass Sickness Fund (EGSF) was launched in 1988 by Moredun and the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies to provide a research hub dedicated to improving treatment, finding the cause and developing means of preventing this devastating disease.

The prediction by the National Animal Disease Information Service (NADIS) for a high risk of liver fluke disease this winter have been borne out by incidences recorded over recent months.

A Moredun Research Institute board member and leading environmental scientist is set to take up a key role at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC).

The Moredun Foundation is delighted to announce that applications are now open for the 2018 Moredun Foundation Award Scheme. 

The Moredun Research Institute has successfully obtained new research funding from the Horse Trust to complete the development of a blood based test for the detection of cyathostomins (small redworms) in horses.

Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal attended a special event held today (Tuesday 21^st November) at Pentlands Science Park to celebrate Moredun’s rich heritage and unique partnership with the farming industry.

Members of Moredun's Senior Management Team will be swapping their officewear for their sleeping bags to take part in the world's largest charity sleep out event on 9th December.

Dr Alasdair Nisbet, has been successful in obtaining new research funding from the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) to evaluate a new technique that would greatly reduce the number of hens used in the efficacy testing of vaccines.

Moredun and the Farmers Network recently joined forces on farm in Cumbria to produce a very informative and interesting livestock production event.

Following the success of the War of the Worms, Moredun were delighted to join forces once again with animator Selina Wagner (Blobina Animations) to create another engaging short film.  Battle of the Bugs highlights the key biosecurity messages that are a critically important part of disease prevention and control.

Biobest and Moredun are celebrating the ‘coming of age’ of their collaboration to provide rabies serology testing for the international movement of pet cats and dogs.

Moredun is a partner in VetBioNet which aims to reinforce the cooperation between Europe’s leading high-containment research infrastructures to advance research on epizootic and zoonotic diseases and to promote technological developments.

Businesses, charities, communities and policy-makers will benefit from easier access to environmental and agricultural research carried out in Scotland, thanks to a collective launched today.

Professor Lee Innes, a renowned scientist and Moredun’s Director of Communications, has been elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

Moredun’s Director of Communications, Professor Lee Innes, has been shortlisted for Outstanding Contribution to Knowledge Exchange at the prestigious Scottish Knowledge Exchange Awards 2017.

Congratulations to Moredun Foundation Board member, John Campbell, founder and chairman of the Glenrath Farms empire, who has been knighted in the New Year Honours List for his services to farming and charitable service to entrepreneurship.

Recent research by Moredun scientists and colleagues has provided new opportunities for the development of diagnostic tests for ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma (OPA).

Scientists and vets at Moredun Research Institute and Biobest Laboratories Ltd have developed and evaluated a diagnostic test on nasal swabs from thin ewes that could be used to screen flocks for Ovine Pulmonary Adenocarcinoma (OPA).

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal visited Moredun Foundation today to find out how creative design has been applied to benefit the health and welfare of livestock in a special event to help celebrate Scotland’s year of Innovation, Architecture and Design.

In response to increasing reports of anthelmintic (wormer) resistance in many of our common gastro-intestinal worms affecting the health and welfare of livestock and horses, Moredun has teamed up with animator Selina Wagner (Blobina Animations) to create an engaging and entertaining short film highlighting the important elements involved in the development and spread of anthelmintic resistance.

The Moredun Research Institute are now an academic partner of the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) which aims to stimulate the growth of the Industrial Biotechnology (IB) industry in Scotland.

Moredun and The Crown Estate Scotland Portfolio have extended their collaboration to produce Biosecurity information in a clear and concise format aimed to encourage livestock farmers to encompass a proactive approach to disease prevention and control.

Ana Herrero, a PhD student at the Moredun Research Institute and the University of Stirling, was crowned the winning of the Young Scientist Award at the 10^th Aquaculture UK Conference in Aviemore last week (25^th May). 

Congratulations to Moredun Foundation Vice-Chairman Professor Randolph Richards who isthe recipient of this year’s Queen’s Medal, the highest honour that the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) can bestow upon a veterinary surgeon.

The first case of Nematodirosis causing deaths and scouring in lambs has been confirmed in the Hereford area this week. The lambs were about 4 weeks of age and grazing high risk pasture with south facing slopes.

Moredun was in attendance at the SRUC – SEPA Biennial Conference in Edinburgh this week (1-2^nd March 2016) to discuss the environmental, land management and animal health challenges facing the future of our farming systems.