Dr Martyn Jeggo, Director of CSIRO Livestock Industries' Australian Animal Health Laboratory.

Professor Martyn Jeggo: Director, Australian Animal Health Laboratory

Professor Martyn Jeggo has been the Director of CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL) since 2002.

• 9 February 2011 | Updated 14 October 2011

Overview

• Current activities
• Background
• Academic qualifications
• Achievements

Current activities

Prof. Martyn Jeggo brings a wealth of experience in controlling and detecting exotic and emerging animal disease to his role of Director of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL).

AAHL is a global leader in research into and diagnosis of major diseases affecting livestock throughout the world. The Laboratory is a frontline defence, helping to protect Australia from the threat of exotic and emerging animal diseases.

In 2004, AAHL was designated as an international collaborating centre for new and emerging diseases by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

This designation places AAHL at the forefront of international efforts to manage the growing number of disease agents that pose a risk to animal and human health.

'As a collaborating centre, AAHL is leading the world in diagnosis and surveillance of new and emerging diseases. We have a key role in protecting Australia's livestock export trade and helping the world manage these new disease threats to animals, people and the environment,' Prof. Jeggo said.

Prof. Jeggo believes a 'One Health' approach will underpin much of AAHL's future research. Current investments in AAHL infrastructure will see an increased ability to work with those infectious agents that affect both animals and humans in a fully bio-secure and bio-safe environment  at the Laboratory. 

These investments will also provide AAHL with a further opportunity to operate as a truly National Facility encouraging scientists throughout Australia, and globally, to utilise this world leading facility.

Other critical investments at AAHL have ensured the facility can not only rapidly diagnose an exotic infection but provide an effective response.

The new Diagnostic Emergency Response Laboratory within the secure area of AAHL is a global first in maintaining the required surge capacity, including high throughput robotics and data handling functionalities.

Prof. Jeggo has been actively involved in two recent international meetings:

• 1st International One Health Congress in Melbourne, Australia from 14-16 February 2011. Prof. Jeggo chaired the Organising Committee.

• Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) International Symposium and Workshop in Melbourne, Australia from 12-14 April 2010. Prof. Jeggo was a member of the Organising Committee.

Background

From 1996–2002, Prof. Jeggo was the Head of the Animal Production and Health Science Section of the Joint Food and Agricultural Organisation/ International Atomic Energy Agency (FAO/IAEA) Division of Agriculture, in Vienna, Austria.

In that role, he managed a range of FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Programs involving more than 200 research contracts relating to animal production and health. These were operational in some 130 countries.

Among other international activities, Prof. Jeggo also developed an international external quality-assurance program for veterinary laboratories.

For more than 15 years, Prof. Jeggo oversaw the management of laboratory networks dealing with:

• rinderpest and contagious bovine pleuropneumonia in Africa
• FMD in Asia
• brucellosis worldwide.

Prof. Jeggo has visited more than 150 national veterinary laboratories in Africa, Asia and the Americas. He has held the positions of:

• Director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories in the Yemen Arab Republic
• Head of the Department of Immunology at the United Kingdom's Institute of Animal Health Pirbright Laboratories.

Academic qualifications

Prof. Jeggo holds a:

• Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine from the Royal Veterinary College, London, United Kingdom (UK)
• Master of Tropical Veterinary Science from the Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine, Edinburgh University, UK
• Doctor of Philosophy from Surrey University, UK
• Adjunct Professorship at Deakin University, Australia.

Achievements

Among his many achievements, Prof. Jeggo has:

• developed an international external quality assurance program for veterinary laboratories
• is the founding member of the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) Global Research Alliance
• is a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS)
• is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In the time that Prof. Jeggo has been Director of AAHL, some A$72 million has been brought in to improve and upgrade the facility.

This $A72 million includes:

• A$24 million for engineering upgrade (CSIRO)
• A$8.5 million to upgrade and develop 2000 m² of secure microbiological laboratories at AAHL for use by researchers external to CSIRO (National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS))
• A$16.8 million operational funds (under 2007–08 Federal Budget).

Watch AAHL on ABC's Landline [external link].