Work packages leading:
WP11: Next-generation LSD vaccines

Work packages involved in:
WP1: Risk analysis framework
WP2: Phylogenetic analysis of African swine fever virus (ASFV) and Lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV)
WP3: Conflict, migration and virus spread
WP4: Transmission of lumpy skin disease virus
WP5: Subclinical infection with lumpy skin disease virus
WP6: African swine fever virus prevention and management
WP7: A novel African swine fever vaccine for interface regions
WP8: Diagnostic tools for LSD
WP9: Optimising LSD vaccine strategies
WP10: Host determinants of lumpy skin disease (LSD) resistance and susceptibility
WP11: Next-generation LSD vaccines

Professor Pip Beard

The Pirbright Institute
Group leader

Tel: +44 1483 232441
Email:
Web: pirbright.ac.uk/users/dr-pip-beard

DEFEND role: Co-ordinator

Professor Pip Beard is the co-ordinator of the DEFEND H2020 project. She is a veterinarian, pathologist and virologist specialising in the unique group of complex DNA viruses which replicate in the cytoplasm of a host cell. This group includes poxviruses and African swine fever virus.

Pip obtained her veterinary degree from the University of Sydney, and PhD from University of Edinburgh. She has studied at Cornell University, Imperial College London, and the State Central Veterinary Laboratory in Mongolia. She currently holds a dual position as a Group Leader at The Roslin Institute in Edinburgh and The Pirbright Institute in London where she leads the Large DNA Virus research group.

The aim of the Large DNA Virus research team is to understand the interactions between the cytoplasmic DNA viruses and their host cell, and to translate this knowledge into clinical outcomes. The group focuses on emerging pathogens of livestock such as African swine fever virus (ASFV) and the capripoxviruses (sheeppox virus, goatpox virus and lumpy skin disease virus). As well as carrying out research directly on these pathogens the team also carries out fundamental studies using vaccinia virus as the prototype large DNA virus.

Current projects in Pip’s laboratory include analysing the role of small non-coding RNAs in the life cycle of ASFV, studying mechanisms of transmission of lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV), identifying and characterising virulence factors of capripoxviruses, and researching the immune response to LSDV infection.