3RD ANNUAL GARA SCIENTIFIC WORKSHOP

06 Sep 2016 - 08 Sep 2016

On 6-8 September, 2016 the 3-rd Annual GARA (Global African Swine Fever Research Alliance) workshop was conducted in Ploufragan, France at the Conference Center of Ploufragan-Plouzane Laboratory of the ANSES (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety). In furthering the GARA Mission (which is to establish and sustain the global research partnership for successful prevention and control of one of the especially dangerous infection diseases - African Swine Fever (ASF)), the 3-rd Annual workshop contributed significantly to the progressive control and eradication of ASF in a number of different countries. Furthermore, the GARA workshop provided attendees with the opportunity to discuss research needs, to establish partnerships, to update their gap analyses, and to identify potential funding sources to address the identified gaps in order to further the goal of eventually eradicating ASF worldwide.

The 3-rd annual GARA workshop brought together more than 100 participants including scientific experts from: the European Union, Ukraine, Armenia, Republic of Georgia, Russia, Uganda, Nigeria, Australia, China, USA, Canada, as well as representatives from international organizations, such as FAO, OIE, etc.. The workshop’s topics focused on virology and pathogenesis of ASF, epidemiology (Africa/Europe), vaccines and immune responses, molecular epidemiology and diagnostics of AFS, legislation and reporting in different countries, and the use of genome editing to understand virus and host interaction.

The participation of a number of Ukrainian and Georgian Workshop participants was supported by DTRA and the STCU. The Ukrainian delegation at the 3-rd annual GARA workshop contained 8 representatives of veterinary governmental agencies and institutions of the country, including a group of experts from the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Customer Protection, NSC “Institute for Clinical and Experimental Veterinary Medicine” (IECVM), SSRI of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary-Sanitary Expertise, and the Institute of Veterinary Medicine. The report “Research on African Swine Fever Threat Reduction through Surveillance in Ukraine: An Update” was presented by Sergiy Filatov, an expert from the IECVM. In the framework of the workshop, special breakout meetings of Ukrainian scientists with their European and American counterparts were jointly organized by the STCU, DTRA and Metabiota Inc.. During those breakout meetings, specialists from each country worked to establish effective contacts in order to encourage future cooperation, as well as to identify future scientific projects with Ukrainian and western veterinary institutions in the area of ASF control and investigation.