As part of its mission to fund research with direct application to the profession, the American Association of Swine Veterinarians Foundation awarded $100,000 in funding for research. Ross Kiehne, chair of the AASV Foundation, announced the selection of four research proposals for funding during the AASV and AASV Foundation cosponsored luncheon on March 6 held during the AASV Annual Meeting in Aurora, Colorado. The foundation granted funds to support efforts by principal researchers, from the University of Minnesota and Iowa State University.

University of Minnesota researcher Kimberly VanderWaal and coinvestigators were awarded $29,997 to fund the proposal, "Fine-scale classification of PRRSV-2: Moving past RFLPs to improve sequence interpretation for disease control and management." The two objectives of the study are to evaluate and compare potential alternative systems for classifying and naming porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus-2 variants and to develop procedures for prospective implementation and expansion that would meet the needs of diagnostic laboratories and practitioners.

The foundation granted $22,440 to Daniel Linhares and coinvestigators from Iowa State University to fund the proposal, "Probability of Influenza A virus RNA detection at different pooling levels for commonly used sample types in breeding herds." The objective of the project is to compare the probability of influenza A virus RNA detection at different levels of pooling for different sample types.

Linhares and coinvestigators also received $24,855 to fund the proposal, "Comparison of a novel rapid tonsil sampling method to serum, oral fluid, and tonsil scraping to detect PRRSV in sows." The objective of this study is to compare the new tonsil-oral sample type with serum, oral fluids and tonsil scraping in terms of probability of PRRSV detection and cycle threshold values with sows at different time points post whole-herd exposure.

The foundation partially funded Linhares's proposal, "Assessing the performance of tongue tips as an additional tool to monitor PRRSV in breeding herds undergoing virus elimination," at $22,708. The objective is to determine the dynamic of PRRSV-RNA detection in tongue tips in breeding herds undergoing PRRSV elimination.

Investigators will share results at various swine meetings and in peer-reviewed publications.

Brett O'Brien chaired the scientific subcommittee responsible for reviewing and scoring the 17 proposals received for consideration, and she joins the AASV Foundation in thanking Rebecca Robbins, Christine Mainquist-Whigham, Wesley Lyons, Eva Jablonski, Megan Potter, Emily Mahan-Riggs and Todd Williams for their participation on this important subcommittee.

An overview of past and current projects funded by the AASV Foundation is available at here. The foundation will issue its next call for research proposals in fall 2023.