Accelerating Research on Livestock Disease Vaccines and Treatments... Quarantine Agency Opens Major Animal Experiment Building

Simultaneous Animal Experiments on Up to 400 Pigs Possible
20 Percent of the Facility Open to the Private Sector

The Major Animal Experiment Building, which can simultaneously conduct animal experiments on 400 pigs, opened its doors on the 23rd. The government expects that this will accelerate the research and development of vaccines and treatments in response to livestock infectious diseases.

The Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency held an opening ceremony for the Major Animal Experiment Building at its headquarters in Gimcheon, Gyeongbuk, on this day. The facility will be used to develop technologies for responding to diseases in major animals such as cattle and pigs.

Kim Jeonghee, Director of the Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency (sixth from the left), is taking a commemorative photo with officials at the opening ceremony of the Major Animal Experiment Building held on the 23rd at the agency headquarters in Gimcheon, Gyeongbuk.

An official from the Quarantine Agency explained, "In Korea, the occurrence of livestock infectious diseases, which cause economic damage to cattle and pig farms by reducing productivity, has been increasing. We recognized the need for a new experimental facility for systematic research on infectious diseases in major animals such as cattle and pigs, and have been promoting the construction of the Major Animal Experiment Building since 2021."

The Major Animal Experiment Building is a Biosafety Level 2 (BL2) research facility, where research can be conducted on prevention technologies for intractable infectious diseases in cattle and pigs, as well as treatment technologies for emerging diseases. Construction began in September 2023 and, over 17 months, a new building was completed with one basement floor and two above-ground floors, totaling 2,746 square meters. In particular, the facility is large enough to conduct animal experiments on up to 400 pigs or 80 cattle simultaneously.

Twenty percent of this facility is planned to be available for use by the private sector. The Quarantine Agency expects that, by opening to the private sector in the future, the facility will serve as a domestic hub for Biosafety Level 2 (BL2) major animal experiment facilities and contribute to the revitalization of public-private cooperative research.

Kim Jeonghee, Director of the Quarantine Agency, stated, "We expect that the active utilization of the newly opened Major Animal Experiment Building will promote the development of customized domestic preventive vaccines and treatment technologies. In particular, it will contribute to revitalizing public-private cooperative research aimed at preventing diseases that reduce the productivity of pigs and cattle in Korea due to various pathogens and at minimizing the resulting damage."