‘We fed more than 2000 ticks’: Queensland-founded vaccine could finally defeat beef industry’s $146 million dollar problem
Ticks; a tiny but mighty pain for the Australian beef industry, taking a $146 million-dollar bite out of the sector every year.
But after more than 18 years research which began in the Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries (now in the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries/QDAF), a vaccine is showing powerful potential to disrupt the life cycle of the cattle tick.
University of Queensland scientists Professor Ala Tabor and Dr Hannah Siddle of the Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation share how they’re set to test their vaccine on 40 cattle in a proof-of-concept trial for commercial adoption.
The cattle tick Rhipicephalus australis costs cattle producers across the tropics and sub tropics $128 million a year due to the cost of control measures, loss of meat quality and the spread of disease.
The cattle tick infested zone is between the Queensland coastal areas east of the Great Dividing Range and north of the Great Northern Rail line. The parasite is also found in the northern areas of Western Australia and the Northern Territory and occasionally in the Northern Rivers Region of New South Wales.
European breeds of cattle are most susceptible, and while the cattle tick can survive on sheep and goat – they can only complete their whole life cycle on cattle. While other vaccines around the world have claimed good efficacy, Dr Hannah Siddle, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, said none had proven to have as high efficacy as the Queensland vaccine.
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“The beauty of this vaccine is that it should protect the cattle from the effects of the ticks feeding and breaks the life cycle of any tick that bites a vaccinated animal – they won’t lay as many eggs and those eggs or hatch as efficiently,” Hannah explained.
“The current treatment is to spray or dip cattle with chemical pesticides and that’s not a sustainable solution for the industry. We want to reduce the amount of chemicals in the food chain.”
Dr Hannah Siddle and Professor Ala Tabor. Image | University of Queensland.
Larger trial to demonstrate efficacy
The proof-of-concept trial will begin in August 2024 to March-April 2025, with the data collated by June 2025.
“Getting to this translational research phase is very exciting, because industry wants us to demonstrate efficacy in a large number of animals, which would enable us to hopefully get a commercial partner on board to make the vaccine and take it out to the broader producer community,” Hannah said.
“One of Australia’s prominent beef companies is sourcing the cattle for us to start in August, and they will be Bos Taurus breeds that are more susceptible to ticks, so that we can fine tune doses. So far, we’ve used Herefords in all our trials.
Research spans close to two decades
It’s been a long journey since the early 2000s when Professor Ala Tabor began her tick mission. Previously with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Queensland (QDAF), Ala has been at University of Queensland (UQ) since 2010.
Dr Hannah Siddle. Image | University of Queensland.
She began a seven-year research partnership with researchers from the US Department of Agriculture through the Beef CRC and Qld Smart State Funding, sharing tick genetic data and using genome sequences to identify possible vaccine candidates. The project also received funding support from Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) from 2014-2017 and 2019-2021.
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“In 2008 we had 400 candidates and by 2012, we had 20 candidates. We did a lot of lab experiments, made antibodies and fed them to female ticks in the lab, then monitored for their eggs and larvae hatchings to see if antibodies were affecting ticks in the lab,” Ala recalled.
“We even set up an in vitro feeding model and our senior technician (QDAF), Anthea Bruyeres fed antibodies to 80 different vaccine candidates to more than 2000 ticks in a year – and we’re still friends!
“So that research was really telling – some antibodies didn’t do anything, others made ticks go black and they’d die and not lay eggs. One of the two options we have now performed very strongly in that in vitro assay.”
Another key selection criteria was a strong antibody reaction in tick-resistant cattle, like the Bos Indicus Brahman breed.
“A lot of antigens were recognised by susceptible cattle, but it doesn’t protect them. We had some great antibody responses, but they weren’t doing anything to repel the ticks,” Ala said.
Potential global distribution for vaccine
Depending on the results of this year’s trials and whether the vaccine works on species in other countries, Ala said UQ could potentially source a global commercial partner for international distribution.
Dr Hannah Siddle and Professor Ala Tabor are hopeful UQ will source a global commercial partner for international distribution following the trial results. Image | University of Queensland.
“In Kenya, for example, they have five tick species that affect cattle. We’ve had a meeting with the global charity GALVmed Scotland who broker research collaborations to deliver vaccines and medicines for livestock in developing countries, to discuss whether they could help us to coordinate a trial somewhere like Kenya,” Ala said.
Back on home soil it’s been a challenge to find a commercial partner, such as an animal health company to fund the research, despite beef industry support.
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One Regional Beef Research Committee took it upon themselves to write to the Australian Government to urge stakeholders to support the research with the funding and resources to ensure its success.
The committee stated that ‘export and domestic customers are continually asking for nil chemical application to our beef… an effective tick vaccine would significantly reduce chemical application and boost our clean and green image.’
Hunt is on for a pharmaceutical company to make vaccine
“Pharmaceutical companies seem to be concentrating on drugs, not vaccines, and they’re more risk averse than before. Hopefully at the end of the trial we can get the vaccine picked up,” Ala said.
“Producers like to see a knockdown, like you get with acaracides (chemical controls), but that doesn’t happen with vaccination, it’s a generational thing and there’ll be less ticks over time.
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“The vaccine will be two doses, a month apart, and then one dose just before the tick season every year. We did compare the lab trial with the commonly used control BM86 (Tickgard), and it started waning, but it was a good control. Our vaccine was more efficacious and lasted longer without repeat dosing.”
For now, Professor Tabor and Dr Siddle are happy to have an Australian Economic Accelerator Grant for the larger trial, and they also have a buffalo fly vaccine project in the pipeline.
Tickets are now on sale for evokeAG. 2025 to be held on 18-19 February 2025 in Brisbane, Queensland. Following a sell-out event in 2024 we are encouraging delegates to secure their tickets, flights and accommodation early.
We look forward to seeing you in Brisbane for evokeAG. 2025. In the meantime, catch up on the other conversations about sustainability, climate resilience and the role of agtech in meeting those challenges from here.