Team:Exeter/
Exploring Bovine TB in The UK
Overview
Delving into the problem of Bovine TB in the UK is not something that we as a team took lightly. Bovine TB is a challenging disease that is hard to treat, easily transmitted and currently illegal to vaccinate against. Put these three factors together with the highly complex social, political and economical situation the UK faces with eradicating TB, it is clear that Bovine TB is a National problem that needs a solution.
Extremely early into our project we began to appreciate this. Therefore we agreed that during our project we wanted to make people more aware of the challenges farmers, vets and local communities face when dealing with Bovine TB.
Establishing relationships with various experts early on was extremely important. Not only have these relationships shaped certain areas of our project but also gave us an unprecedented look into the issue of Bovine TB in the UK. In the beginning these experts allowed us to understand everything to do with Bovine TB in the field and as our project has developed we have been able to integrate their experiences, suggestions and feedback into the science we are doing in the lab.
Our Beyond the Bench became as much of a lesson for us as a team as it did have an impact on our Ribonostic project. Vets, farmers, politicians, the NFU and DEFRA are just to name a few of the people/organisations highly involved with our project.
Richard Sibley
Right at the start of our project we wanted to understand everything to do with current TB testing. Understanding the Tuberculin skin test, how the test is implemented in the field and some of the current issues with testing are all things we needed to appreciate. To do this we met with Richard (Dick) Sibley, director of a veterinary practice in Devon. Dick has worked directly with Bovine TB, attending multiple Mycobacterium conferences and also focusing the work of his practice towards tackling Bovine TB.
Click below to read how Dick and his practice influenced our team right from day one.
Read more Phase 1: Understand everything to do with current TB testing.
Saved and Safe
A wide range of parties are involved with tackling TB in the UK. Important to our project was to really engage with those at the forefront of TB eradication. Central to this is a company called Saved and Safe and their director Michael Ross. Michael lives in New Zealand and was highly involved with the strategy that saw a decrease in TB incidence rate across New Zealand of 94% in just 10 years. With their 31 UK and international partners, Saved and Safe are taking a new and innovative approach in the fight against TB, something our test could offer great potential to.
Read more Phase 2: Look at what projects are at the forefront of tackling TB.
Phil Leighton
Our test will be cell free meaning all testing can be done ‘in the field’. There were a number of important things to consider when designing exactly how our test would work. This is where Phil Leighton came into our project. A highly experienced vet, we accompanied Phil to a TB test on a Cornish farm and also spoke extensively about our project. Blood testing in cattle, the size of needles/tubes to collect samples and also blood clotting were all things Phil highlighted to us.
Click to read exactly how what Phil told us was integrated into our wet lab.
Read more Phase 3: Look at the real life design of our test.
The Public
Bovine TB in the UK is a highly contentious issue with many different sides to the argument of how it is spread, what the current problems are and also what is the best way to eradicate it from our farming industry. As opposed to debating this issue, we as a team took to the streets with some simple facts, aiming to make people more aware of exactly how damaging Bovine TB is to the UK. When we started we believed that not enough people were aware of some of these key facts. The best way for us to demonstrate this as a team was to engage with the general public armed with clipboards and a simple survey. Our results were interesting to say the least...
Read more Phase 4: Understand the public perception of bTB in the UK.
George Eustice
Minister of State at DEFRA.
Phase 6