December 24, 2025

USPOULTRY: Researchers explore mRNA vaccine technology for protection against poultry diseases

USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announced the completion of a research project focused on creating a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccine platform for two major poultry viruses: infectious bronchitis virus and infectious laryngotracheitis virus.

The research is part of USPOULTRY’s comprehensive research programme encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing and is made possible in part through proceeds from the International Poultry Expo, part of the International Production & Processing Expo.

For "Project #F97: Development of mRNA-based Vaccines for Heterosubtypic Protection Against Infectious Bronchitis Viruses and Infectious Laryngotracheitis" led by Dr. Stephen Spatz of the US National Poultry Research Center in Athens, Georgia, researchers successfully designed plasmids (DNA templates) that can hold a stable, segmented poly(A) tail — an improvement that helps make mRNA more reliably.

This type of vaccine could avoid many problems seen with current live or recombinant vaccines, such as the risk of the virus returning to a harmful form, interference from maternal antibodies or complications from multiple vaccine viruses interacting.

Overall, these findings lay important groundwork for developing safer and more effective next-generation vaccines for poultry diseases that cause major economic losses.

- USPOULTRY