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Dr Carrie Batten is Head of the Non-Vesicular Disease Reference Laboratory and leads the UK National Reference Laboratories for bluetongue, African horse sickness, African swine fever, morbilliviruses and capripoxviruses working closely with the OIE disease specific experts. She has a background in microbiology and virology (University of Plymouth, University of Southampton medical school, UK), and has research interests in improving diagnostics and control of transboundary veterinary diseases.

From a practical perspective, work within the group primarily focuses on the diagnosis of veterinary viruses, but also validates and applies new technologies for the detection and characterisation of important livestock disease agents such as BTV. These methods underpin the routine diagnostic work of the Reference Laboratory at The Pirbright Institute and are also used to monitor the global patterns of disease, and to recognise new emerging viral lineages that pose threats to the UK and Europe.

The group are currently responsible for The Pirbright Institute’s Rinderpest virus archive and have worked with FAO and OIE to sequence and destroy archive virus stocks of Rinderpest. Dr Carrie Batten acts as secretariat for the rinderpest holding facility network.