January 11, 2011

Australian CRC researchers collaborate on Campylobacter control

Poultry researchers at the Australian Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) are working on a collaborative project to improve the industry's ability to control the gut levels of Campylobacter in meat chickens.

The CRC researchers are teaming up with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), and Ohio State University (OSU).

Campylobacter is a major cause of human gastro-intestinal illness. It's estimated that there are around 220,000 cases of Campylobacter per year in Australia, with 50,000 of these being linked to poultry.

Improved control of Campylobacter levels in the gut of meat chickens is a central focus of one of the CRC's research programs. Program 3 - Safe & Quality Food Production - has several Sub-Projects already underway - including those headed by Dr Sharon Bishop-Hurley (CSIRO), Nalini Chinivasagam from the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation (DEEDI), and Dr Gireesh Rajashekara (OSU), all with a focus on on-farm interventions. The CRC is committed to supporting these existing research activities with a Sub-Project on the development of a vaccine.

To help build collaborations across the existing Sub-Projects and to bring together a possible vaccine research proposal, a Campylobacter workshop was held recently in Brisbane. The workshop highlighted the collaborative nature of the CRC - researchers from two Australian partners (DEEDI and CSIRO), an overseas university partner (OSU), and key industry partners (Bioproperties and Pfizer) met by teleconference - linking the Australian site with two in Ohio.

As well as building collaboration across Sub-Projects, the focus of the workshop was to bring together the two potential vaccine proposals originally submitted independently by CSIRO and OSU. Dr Rob Moore (CSIRO) and Dr Kimberly Cole (OSU) have used the workshop and a subsequent visit by Dr Moore to Ohio to develop a fully collaborative proposal for an innovative Campylobacter vaccine.

"This capacity to bring together outstanding research scientists from different research organisations to undertake industry relevant work is a hallmark of the CRC's approach to science," said the CRC's Research Manager, DEEDI's Dr Pat Blackall.

"By simply getting together we have managed to identify the strengths of the group and pull them together without unnecessary duplication. This 'family approach' uses the skills of the partners appropriately, maximising the chances of a successful outcome in what is a very important area."

The proposal developed by Dr Moore and Dr Cole is currently being subjected to the scrutiny of the Science Committee and the End User Committee as well as the CRC Board.