Winners of the 2019 European PRRS Research Award announced

Boehringer Ingelheim honors three winning research proposals with a funding of 25,000 euro each as part of the European PRRS Awards to encourage further development of practical methods for controlling PRRS (Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome), and to recognize scientific excellence in this field. Furthermore, the company offers a valuable opportunity for interaction and academic exchange among swine researchers and veterinary practitioners. The winners were selected by an independent expert panel.

PRRS continues to be a highly prevalent disease¹ in European pigs, causing economic losses² through its negative effects on reproduction and growth as well as by clinical illness.

The European PRRS Research Award review board is chaired by Enric Mateu (Universidad Autònoma de Barcelona) with members from across swine practice and academia: Helle Jessen (Hyo Vet), Andrea Ladinig (Vetmeduni Vienna), Giampietro Sandri (Gruppo Veronesi), Gyula Balka (Veterinary Medicine Budapest) ), Michele Drigo (University of Padova), adnd Torsten Pabst (Tierarztpraxis Dr. Pabst).

In 2019, the company has sponsored the annual European PRRS Research Award for the sixth time already. The winners of this year’s European PRRS Research Award, as selected by the review board after careful evaluation, are:

• Role of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in gilts after MLV vaccination in protection against vertical transmission of PRRSV (Yanli Li, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Spain)
• Impact of repeated vaccinations with MLV PRRSV vaccines on the adaptive immune response (Lars Erik Larsen, University of Copenhagen – Denmark)
• Molecular traceability of PRRSV: an epidemiological tool for improving biosecurity (Gerard Eduard Martín Valls, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Spain)

The prizes will be awarded to the winners at the 12th European Symposium of Porcine Health Management in 2020 taking place in Bern, Switzerland.

For further information please visit: www.prrs.com

¹https://www.prrs.com/en/publications/abstracts/prrs-prevalence-europe-perception-the-pig-veterinary-practitioners/

²https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28606362

October 7, 2019 – Boehringer Ingelheim