The research team at NRA conducts research on strategies to prevent most common and significant infections affecting the health of, in particular children, immunocompromised individuals and the elderly, through food.

As part of our research programme we study infectious agents, design and formulate vaccines against target organisms as a means to investigate mechanisms of prevention of disease and identify ingredients that fulfill the criteria for disease prevention. We develop tests to measure the ability of particular ingredients to prevent target infectious agents in vitro, followed by a more applied approach to test ingredients in animal models of infection and finally once safety and efficacy of ingredients/food products developed is established in animal models, clinical research in human subjects is conducted.

To date our primary focus has been gastrointestinal disease, as the gastrointestinal tract is the major portal of entry of infectious organisms into the body and therefore it is logical to prevent disease through food. Using the approach described above we have demonstrated significant success in prevention of rotavirus, a common childhood virus that is the primary cause of severe diarrhoea in not only children, but also immunocompromised individuals and the elderly. A hyperimmune bovine colostrum product Gastrogard-R_® containing antibodies against rotavirus has been on the market in Australia for >10 years and has a history of successful use in > 25,000 children. The research team continues to evolve rotavirus prevention strategies by developing products that are more cost-effective and widely accessible to the community. Research on other target organisms causing gastroenteritis is in progress.