Prof. Hua-Ji Qiu
Harbin Veterinary Research Institute (HVRI)
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS)
China
Biosketch
Hua-Ji QIU, PhD, DVM, professor, the chief scientist of the Unit for High-Consequence Swine Viral Diseases, Harbin Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China. He served as coordinator of more than 20 projects from National “863” Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Technologies R&D Program, EU FP7 project, etc. His research is focused on the regulation of viral replication, virulence determinants and development of diagnostic assays and marker vaccines for classical swine fever, African swine fever and pseudorabies. He has been awarded several national and provincial prizes for progress in science and technology. He has published more than 150 papers in SCI-indexed journals, including 15 papers in Journal of Virology.
Prof. QIU is a member of the Asfarviridae Study Group of ICTV, a member of National Committee of Experts on Animal Epidemic Prevention of China, and a standing member of Animal Infectious Diseases Branch and a member of Veterinary Biotechnology Branch of Chinese Society of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary. He serves as editor of several journals such as Frontiers in Immunology, Viruses, Scientia Agricultura Sincica, Chinese Journal of Biotechnology, Acta Microbiologia Sinica, etc., and a peer reviewer of a number of international journals such as Gene Therapy, Journal of Virology, Vaccine, Veterinary Microbiology, Viruses, Virus Research, etc. Additionally, he is a Heilongjiang high-level B talent, agricultural talent, provincial pig industry system expert, provincial government special subsidy recipient.
Abstract
Development Strategies and Application Prospects of African Swine Fever Vaccines: Feasibility and Probability
African swine fever (ASF) is a devastating hemorrhagic disease of domestic pigs and wild boar caused by African swine fever virus (ASFV). The disease has a fatality of as high as 100% in acute cases, with no commercial vaccines or treatments available. During the past decades, great efforts have been made to achieve a safe, efficacious, and affordable ASF vaccine for the prevention and control of the transboundary disease, a major concern to all the stakeholders of the pig industry worldwide. With intensive investment in the ASFV research and development in recent years, unprecedented progress has been made in the development of novel ASF vaccines, including live attenuated vaccines, subunit vaccines, virally vectored vaccines, and DNA/mRNA vaccines, with varied safety and efficacy profiles. A number of promising ASF vaccine candidates are being evaluated in preclinical experiments or/and clinical trials, showing good commercialization potential. However, there are still many bottlenecks hindering its further development. In this keynote lecture, I will summarize various vaccine strategies, with respect to the advantages and disadvantages, comprehensive evaluation, current challenges, application prospects of ASF vaccine candidates as well as the development directions in the future in developing safe and efficacious ASF vaccines.
Keywords: African swine fever; vaccines; development strategies; application prospects