MSI PIs Sagar Goyal (professor, Veterinary Population Medicine) and Peter Bruggeman (professor, Mechanical Engineering) are leading a team studying how using cold plasma on surfaces can reduce the incidence of a virus affecting pigs. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv), which spreads quickly through swine barns, is extremely costly to the pork industry. The cold-plasma technology shows promise in fighting this virus along with older technologies that filter air in swine barns. If successful, it could also be useful for fighting food-borne illnesses that affect people.
An article about the research appears on the College of Veterinary Medicine website: Clean Air, Healthy Swine. The University of Minnesota News Service has also published an article on their website: Clean Air, Healthy Swine.
Professor Goyal uses MSI resources for projects performing molecular characterization of fish, poulty, and honeybee pathogens and conducting molecular surveillance of the upper respiratory virome of wild birds, commercial poultry, and backyard poultry. Professor Bruggeman uses MSI to perform simulations of plasma jets that complement experimental work.