Project description
How vaccination influenced rinderpest virus evolution
Rinderpest virus (RPV) devastated cattle globally, primarily in Africa and Asia. A vaccine introduced in the 1960s led to RPV’s official eradication in 2011. However, the impact of vaccination on its evolution remains unknown. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the EvoVax project will explore how vaccination efforts have influenced RPV’s evolution. It hypothesises that widespread vaccine use has created selective pressures, leading to genetic bottlenecks and decreased genomic diversity. The staggered rollout of vaccines may have also resulted in distinct regional RPV lineages. The project will analyse historical RPV samples and sequence genomes from a unique pro-vaccination collection of 45 European specimens, as well as examine existing sequences from Asia and Africa.
Objective
Rinderpest virus (RPV) was historically one of the most devastating pathogens affecting cattle, with a global impact unmatched by any other livestock disease. Although largely eradicated in Europe by the late 19th century, RPV continued causing catastrophic outbreaks in Africa and Asia, leading to severe economic and agricultural consequences. The introduction of a vaccine in the 1960s marked a turning point, ultimately leading to the official eradication of RPV in 2011, a landmark achievement in veterinary and human medicine. However, the effects of vaccination on the evolutionary dynamics of RPV remain unexplored.
My MSCA proposal aims to investigate how vaccination efforts influenced the evolution of RPV. I hypothesize that widespread vaccine use exerted selective pressures on the virus, leading to genetic bottlenecks and reduced genomic diversity over time and across regions. I also suspect that the staggered rollout of vaccination programs worldwide resulted in the emergence of distinct regional RPV lineages.
To test these hypotheses, I will analyze historical RPV samples, expanding the genetic dataset by sequencing additional genomes from a rare collection of 45 European pathological specimens collected before vaccination. This will be complemented by analyzing existing sequences from Asia and Africa. I will develop innovative phylodynamic models to account for time-dependent evolutionary rates and lineage dynamics, providing a comprehensive view of the viruss evolutionary response to vaccination.
By combining my solid track record in virus-host interactions and paleogenetics with the host's extensive expertise in virus phylodynamics, this fellowship will provide me with the key scientific and transferable skills necessary to achieve this research agenda and fulfill the outlined objectives. It will also enable me to establish myself as a research leader in the field and make substantial contributions to the study of viral evolution.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
- agricultural sciences animal and dairy science domestic animals animal husbandry
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics genomes
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 LEUVEN
Belgium
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