Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), commonly known as bird flu, is a widespread and highly contagious virus in birds that can spread to other animals and livestock. While human transmission is rare, the United States has seen 71 confirmed cases with 2 deaths since 2024.
One researcher from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and the College of Veterinary Medicine is working to develop a novel vaccine and strategy to protect animals and humans alike, funded by a $1.9 million grant from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA-APHIS).
“The HPAI H5N1 infection has caused significant economic losses for our farmers, like the egg shortages, and several issues with food safety and international trade,” grant recipient Wenjun Ma said. “Right now, outbreaks cannot be effectively controlled, despite best efforts to depopulate domestic birds on impacted and neighboring farms. This grant will help us develop a new vaccine that can differentiate infected animals from vaccinated ones, which will help curb current outbreaks in domestic poultry.”
Ma and his team will focus on developing safe and effective vaccines that provide protection from not only avian flu but also Newcastle disease, another fatal, viral disease in poultry. The researchers will test the vaccines’ safety and effectiveness in chickens and turkeys.
Continuing the fight against HPAI, Ma will also collaborate with two other Mizzou researchers, Wesley Warren, PhD and John Driver, PhD, to understand how cells from a chicken’s lung communicate with each other and how the pulmonary network rewires itself after an HPAI infection.
“Developing this vaccine will benefit US farmers, poultry producers, stakeholders and anyone who may consume chicken or eggs,” Ma said. “It will also help protect international trade and ensure that HPAI does not spread to any human, sparing them from a disease for which we have no treatment.”
Wenjun Ma, PhD is a professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at the Mizzou School of Medicine and of Pathobiology and Integrative Biomedical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine. The USDA-APHIS grant will award $1.9 million over three years, until February 2029.
