Stone Ridge Ventures, in association with Murdoch University, has recently committed to invest $500,000 in Spirogene Pty Ltd (Spirogene). Spirogene aims to develop a recombinant vaccine and a rapid, precise, test method for improved prevention and disease surveillance for Avian Intestinal Spirochaetosis (AIS). Spirogene seeks to utilize its technical strengths in bioinformatics and molecular biology to produce a cost-effective recombinant vaccine and diagnostic kit to address an unmet industry need.

AIS is a bacterial disease of high value poultry (egg layers and broiler breeders) caused by Brachyspira intermedia and is responsible for losses to the poultry industry approaching US$4 billion per annum.

Professor David Hampson, Professor of Veterinary Microbiology at Murdoch University has spent a considerable portion of his research career working on intestinal spirochaetes in pigs, chickens and humans; and is a renowned world authority on intestinal spirochaetes. Professor Hampson’s research has recognised a need for the effective treatment of AIS in poultry, as current antimicrobial methodologies are either ineffective or deficient, with some considered to be either carcinogenic or genotoxic.

Professor Hampson has previously successfully developed vaccine technologies in collaboration with Professor Matthew Bellgard, Director for the WA Centre of Excellence in Comparative Genomics (CCG) at Murdoch University. Based on the previous success of the programme in pigs, Professors Hampson and Bellgard believe that a vaccine program for AIS can now be replicated and expedited for poultry. The novel integration of parallel work programmes in bioinformatics and molecular biology means that the research group will be well-positioned to identify any potential vaccine candidates at the early stages of research and continue to develop a data package that will allow global registration and commercialisation in association with a multinational animal health pharmaceutical company.

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