The Bovine Immunology Group

The bovine immunology group is involved in studies of cell-mediated immunity to a number of important pathogens of livestock (including Theileria species, foot and mouth disease virus and bovine herpes virus 1). The main theme of the research is to understand the nature and fine antigenic specificity of protective T cell responses.

Studies of responses to Theileria aim to identify parasite antigens recognised by responding T cells and to determine the antigenic basis of the incomplete cross-protection observed between different parasite strains. These studies are underpinned by work on bovine MHC and T cell receptor molecules, which have led to the successful construction of bovine class I tetramers and development of methods to analyse the clonal composition of bovine T cell responses.

The group therefore contributes expertise in basic ruminant immunology to the VTRI project.