Objective The project is to develop blood based laboratory tests for the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis (BTB). This is necessary because the tuberculin test, which is the only officially approved test in the EC at present does not detect all cattle infected with Mycobacterium bovis and it is a time-consuming and expensive test. The immune response to Mycobacterium bovis is both cellular and humoral and the development of assays which will detect both of these responses is proposed. Antigens which are specific to Mycobacterium bovis will be identified and produced. This will be achieved by the use of extraction and purification from crude preparations, monoclonal antibody production, production of a cell wall antigen, production of fusion proteins containing multiple Mycobacterium bovis specific epitopes and the purification of glycolipid antigens. The cellular response to Mycobacterium bovis antigens will be detected in a bovine interleukin 2 assay. Methods to prolong the useful life of blood samples for cellular assays will be developed. The humoral response to Mycobacterium bovis antigens will be measured by ELISA using the specific antigens developed during the programme. The anamnestic effect of the injection of tuberculin on antibody production will also be investigated in infected cattle. Fields of science natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsmedical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologymedical and health sciencesclinical medicinepneumologytuberculosisagricultural sciencesanimal and dairy sciencedomestic animalsanimal husbandry Programme(s) FP3-AIR - Specific research and technological development and demonstration programme (EEC) in the field of agriculture and agro-industry, including fisheries, 1990-1994 Topic(s) 232 - Animal health and well being Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN Address Ballsbridge ,7 Dublin 4 Ireland See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CDI-DLO Netherlands EU contribution € 0,00 Address Edelhertweg 15 - p.o. box 65 8200 AB Lelystad See on map Centre National d'Études Vétérinaires et Alimentaires (CNEVA) France EU contribution € 0,00 Address 22 rue pierre curie 94703 Maisons alfort See on map DPT. OF AGRICULTURE Ireland EU contribution € 0,00 Address Dublin See on map MAFF CENTRAL VETERINARY LABORATORY United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address New haw K115 3NB Weybridge See on map QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST United Kingdom EU contribution € 0,00 Address University road Belfast See on map Links Website Opens in new window UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA Spain EU contribution € 0,00 Address 08193 Bellaterra - barcelona See on map