The research group studies how the African swine fever virus (ASFV) interacts with the porcine immune system, and how this knowledge can be used to improve disease control strategies. It’s focused on:
• Deciphering the immunological mechanisms that determine whether an animal develops effective protection or progresses toward immunopathology.
• Designing and optimizing vaccines, including both attenuated and subunit approaches, using antigen‑discovery tools and functional immunology.
• Identifying correlates of protection that help predict vaccine efficacy and accelerate the evaluation of new vaccination strategies.
• Developing trained immunity approaches in livestock species to enhance their resilience to infectious diseases.
In addition, the research group actively collaborates with pharmaceutical companies, both through joint research projects and by providing specialized services in virology, immunology, and preclinical studies under biosafety level 3 (BSL‑3) conditions.
ASF is a disease that affects domestic pigs and wild boars, as well as other species of wild pigs living in Africa. It is transmitted through direct contact between animals or through contact with contaminated material (food, water, waste, dead animals, etc.). In Africa, it is also transmitted by specific species of ticks, which have also been detected in Andalusia and Extremadura, but do not exist in Catalonia. ASF has a high mortality rate in its most acute forms and poses a risk to pig production. The disease does NOT affect or spread to humans or other animals, even if meat that may be contaminated with the virus is consumed.
African swine fever has been endemic in Africa since it was first discovered in the early 20th century. It appeared on the Iberian Peninsula in the 1960s and 1970s, from where it spread to other countries in Western Europe and the Americas. It was gradually eradicated, until the Iberian Peninsula was declared free of the disease in 1995. Since 2007, a new genotype of the virus has been spreading from Georgia to Eastern Europe, Asia and Eurasia, Oceania, and the Dominican Republic. Outbreaks have also occurred in Western Europe and in countries far from the endemic areas, such as Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Italy.
There is currently no vaccine for ASF (except for two attenuated vaccines approved only in Vietnam).
