Overview

RFP: Swine Health – PRRS

The National Pork Board’s Swine Disease Research Task Force (SDRTF) works to identify critical knowledge gaps and fund research proposals that address them. Its current Request for Proposals (RFP) focuses on porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv), with priorities developed by producers, veterinarians, and subject matter experts from both the SDRTF and the PRRSv Advisory Group. The primary objective is to advance understanding and fill research gaps specifically related to PRRSv.

What Valuable Research Question Does this RFP Address?

This RFP focuses on knowledge gaps related to immunology and virus characteristics, diagnostics, prevention, response, biosecurity/bioexclusion and biocontainment for PRRSv.

Research Priorities

Immunology and Virus Characteristics

  • Development of novel PRRSv vaccine (beyond MLV) or immunological solution (e.g., antivirals, immunostimulatory compounds, etc.) with direct comparison of this new technology to current commercially available vaccines that provide greater cross-protection to improve swine productivity and survivability.  
  • Identify PRRSv management strategies that enhance the pig’s ability to rapidly clear the virus and/or decrease shedding (both at the individual and whole herd levels), while reducing morbidity and mortality and improving performance.
    • Identification of strategies that result in decreased time to elimination of PRRSv during a herd closure.
  • Development of effective PRRSv vaccine targets for future vaccine development or novel immunity modulator. 
  • Develop best practices guidelines for PRRSv field immunization and exposure to decrease impact to production and reduce the potential for more virulent viral lineages in the field. Consideration of MLV, LVI, and killed vaccines as tools is encouraged.
  • Determine markers of virulence and/or viral persistence in the PRRSv genome.
  • Identify management practices that increase PRRSv diversity, including MLV and LVI usage.
    • Quantify the association between immunological interventions (e.g., MLV and LVI) and PRRSv diversity, including a better understanding of point mutations and recombination occurrence.   
  • Determine individual animal production characteristics or traits to track to identify which animals on a farm will be at high risk of being high viral shedders in order to assist in production decisions at the beginning of a PRRSv break. 
  • Evaluation of virulence, aerosol transmission, and environmental survival for new strains of PRRSv virus (e.g., PRRSv 1-4-4 L1C.5)  
  • Evaluation of the impact of infections with multiple wild-type PRRSv strains on vaccine efficacy and pigs’ ability to respond to infection, as measured by pig performance in the grow-finish stage. 

Diagnostics

  • Development of a method or tool to quickly determine site status to improve responsive actions.
    • Reliable pen-side test for rapid results to improve response strategies such as interventions, treatments, or pig movements. This tool should also be able to determine if a PRRSv positive result is due to MLV or wild-type virus.
    • A method of using or capturing production data to determine sooner if PRRSv diagnostic testing is needed.
  • Development of a viability PCR (or similar technology) to reliably determine if a sanitation process was successful.
  • Develop a method (e.g., specific production parameters) or tool (testing method) to identify high-viral shedding sows during PRRSv herd closures.

Prevention

  • Identification and evaluation of risk factors associated with virus transmission to reduce PRRS breaks. 
  • Evaluation of the risk factors for manure management to reduce the risk of barns breaking with PRRSv. 
    • PRRSv epidemiology, including the causal mechanism, before, during, and after manure management practices, considering cofactors such as stress (e.g., chilling), ventilation, and subclinical infections on PRRSv outbreaks. 
    • Development of evidence-based methods for reducing the risk of PRRSv breaks around manure handling.

Response

  • Evaluation of strategies and methods for shortening time to baseline production and/or time to negative for sow farm virus elimination post PRRSv break (e.g. batch vs. weekly farrowing, wean down strategies, test and removal etc).

Biosecurity/Bioexclusion

  • Comparison of outbreak frequencies on farms implementing different biosecurity protocols, including farms that implement all biosecurity standards typical of an air-filtered farm, but do not use air filters.  
  • Determine the ROI of filtered farms. 
  • Identification of barriers for implementation and development of methods to address biosecurity compliance in relation to human behavior.

Biocontainment

  • Develop methods for reducing the amount of virus shedding (the magnitude and/or duration) and viral diversity following a break at the pig level. 
  • Develop methods for reducing the amount of viral load and virus transmission in a geographical region. 
    • Including the development of biosecurity practices to encourage biocontainment of the virus after a PRRSv break. 
  • Determine the threat of points of concentration (e.g., packing plants, sorting stations, sale barns, truck washes) on PRRSv spread in a region. 

Criteria for Approval

This RFP focuses on the PRRSv-specific priorities for immunology and virus characteristics, diagnostics, prevention, response, biosecurity/bioexclusion and biocontainment. Submitters may submit proposals focused on one priority or multiple if the study design effectively addresses more than one. Submitters must identify which priority they are addressing in their proposal.  

Proposals must directly identify how the submitted proposal will address the RFP priorities. Submitters must submit proposals that are well written with a defined budget and robust study design that clearly addresses the research priorities.  

Due Date

Research proposals for this RFP are due September 15, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. CT.

Evaluation

Individual projects contained within the proposal must meet the same standards of scientific rigor and statistical validity as typical National Pork Board research grants. Poorly written proposals that fail to demonstrate how researchers will address their selected research priority will not be considered.

A Task Force comprised of pork producers, veterinarians, allied industry representatives and subject matter experts will evaluate each proposal for its approach to desired outcomes, application to and impact on the pork production industry.

Funding Amount

There is a maximum of $500,000 available for this RFP. Applicants should not interpret the maximum allowable amount ($500,000) as a suggestion to expand their anticipated budget to this level. Reasonable budgets necessary to achieve desired outcomes are in favor of the applicant. Applicants should be aware that this budget is intended to potentially fund multiple proposals across the identified priorities. 

Budgets not commensurate with proposed work or poorly justified will likely negatively impact the evaluation of the proposal. Indirect costs are not allowed; however, it is allowable to request salary and fringe benefit support for graduate students.

Proposal Format Requirements

Submissions for this RFP should follow the National Pork Board’s standard instructions, format and requirements. Please ensure your proposal format includes all required information, specifically under the budget section. A proposal template can be found here.

Questions?

For questions, please contact:

Marisa Rotolo, DVM, PHD
Director, Swine Health
National Pork Board
[email protected]