Current BRD tests can take days to provide a result, often resulting in delayed treatment or antibiotic overuse.
Dr. Mohit Verma, received a $715,500 New Innovator in Food & Agriculture Research Award in 2020 to develop a rapid diagnostic test for BRD, a common disease affecting cattle that results in nearly $1 billion in annual losses for the U.S. beef industry. Traditional methods to detect the virus are often subjective and limited in accuracy.
Verna’s research to improve BRD testing was awarded several years before the recent HPAI outbreak. Accurate and efficient tests for HPAI are critical to properly control the spread of this highly contagious and deadly virus.
Verma’s BRD research led to a user-friendly, low-cost test that can detect the virus in under 60 minutes. This research laid the groundwork for a similar HPAI test.
The BRD test can assist veterinarians and cattle producers in determining the most effective methods to treat and prevent the disease.
Verma’s research team used these research results to introduce and validate a new paper-based test that could quickly, affordably and reliably detect HPAI viruses.
Verma and four co-authors published the details of their HPAI test in Scientific Reports. This work was funded in part by FFAR, with additional funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Clinical and Translational Sciences Award from the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.