Endemic and zoonotic infectious reproductive diseases of livestock cause major economic losses globally and threaten food security and public health. REPRODIVAC is developing new and improved vaccines and diagnostic to better control four priority abortifacient diseases: porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (caused by PRRSV), Q fever (caused by Coxiella burnetii), ovine enzootic abortion (OEA) (caused by Chlamydia abortus), and porcine brucellosis (caused by Brucella suis). The consortium spans academia and industry with expertise in structural and molecular biology, microbiology, immunology, plant and veterinary sciences, diagnostic test and vaccine development. This interdisciplinary approach enables to address the target reproductive disorders by: 1) applying reverse and structural vaccinology to select and design vaccine and diagnostic candidate antigens; 2) exploiting relevant protein expression systems for the production of these antigens; 3) producing rationally attenuated and viral vectored vaccines; 4) utilising established animal models for the rational evaluation of candidate vaccines; and 5) developing a suite of molecular and immunological diagnostic tests, including point-of-care tests (PoC) to discriminate vaccinated from infected animals (DIVA). We will develop a broadly protective PRRSV vaccine and a serological ELISA that will reliably correlate with PRRSV neutralising antibody titres. We will identify protective subunit vaccine candidates for Q fever and validate a companion serological DIVA test. We will refine an OEA vaccine for commercialisation and pursue a complementary approach towards a DIVA-compatible next-generation subunit vaccine and serological and molecular DIVA/PoC tests. We will develop live attenuated B. suis vaccines and brucellosis diagnostic tests with improved specificity.
