Participation of one of the lecturers of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Kufa as a member of the master’s thesis discussion Committee at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Qadisiyah

Assistant Professor Dr. Asaad Jasib Salbukh participated in the master’s thesis defense committee for student Ali Jasim Raheel at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah. The thesis is titled “Development of an mRNA Vaccine for Peste des Petits Ruminants and Evaluation of Immune Response in Laboratory Animals.”
The master’s thesis was discussed at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Al-Qadisiyah, under the supervision of Professor Dr. Qasim Haleem Kashash.
The study aimed to produce a multi-epitope mRNA vaccine for the Peste des Petits Ruminants virus using three viral antigens significant in the virus’s pathogenicity and infection. This was achieved through the use of immunoinformatics to design the vaccine, followed by its production using the globally recognized field of reverse vaccinology, and evaluating the immune response to the vaccine.
Key conclusions include the successful production of the multi-epitope mRNA vaccine in the laboratory in a short time and at a low economic cost compared to conventional vaccine production. The vaccine showed no harmful side effects and demonstrated high efficacy in stimulating both cellular and humoral immune responses in experimental animals, achieving a better immune response than the vaccine currently used by veterinary health authorities in preventive vaccination programs against Peste des Petits Ruminants.
The thesis recommended continuing efforts to produce this type of vaccine and initiating a comprehensive study to use the vaccine in the field on small ruminants. It also suggested leveraging the vaccine design mechanism and manufacturing principle to potentially produce vaccines against multiple viral diseases by selecting viral antigens from more than one virus.