A grant of over €340,000 has been awarded to Irish researchers at Teagasc and University College Cork (UCC) as part of the international US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership.

The Department of Agriculture funding has been directed to support development of new therapies that aim to tackle antimicrobial resistance and infections associated with animal health and welfare in the pig sector.

Minister of State for research and development, farm safety and new market development Martin Heydon announced the grant on Tuesday.

He said the initiative “allows Irish researchers to partner and collaborate with their Northern Irish and American counterparts” and that it “further strengthens international capacity and capability in the Irish research sector”.

Research

The Teagasc and UCC researchers are teaming up with Queen’s University Belfast and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, to investigate the use of viruses (phages) that infect bacteria as an alternative to treatment with conventional antibiotics in the treatment of Streptococcus sui, a bacterial pathogen associated with respiratory and intestinal infection in pigs.

The pathogen constitutes a significant animal health and welfare issue for the pig sector.

The €340,000 awarded by the Department will form part of a budget of almost €1m required for the international collaboration project overall. The Irish investment will fund Irish-based research during the project.

2022 call in agriculture

As part of Science Week 2021, Minister Heydon also announced the launch of the tripartite 2022 agriculture call under the US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership.

The initiative was developed through a partnership between the Irish Department of Agriculture, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Minister Heydon said: “The 2022 agriculture call reinforces the importance of international scientific collaboration on critical research topics, while also extending new opportunities for the co-funding of joint research proposals in six additional research areas.”

The topics include sustainable bioeconomy through biobased products; sustainable agroecosystems: health, functions, processes and management; bioprocessing and bioengineering; agricultural microbiomes in plant systems and natural resources; data science for food and agriculture systems (DSFAS); and inter-disciplinary engagement in animal systems (IDEAS).

More information about the funding programme is available at on the Department’s website 'US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership Call in Agriculture'.