Toward prevention of cowdriosis: A closer look with the digital holographic microscope 25 years after a first study of the IFN system in the bovine species

Mass production of Ehrlichia ruminantium variants from different regions of sub- Saharan Africa is one of the difficulties that must be overcome in producing a heartwater vaccine. Vaccine productivity can be limited by endogenous induction of interferon (IFN), which inhibits the propagation of Ehrlichia ruminantium (ER) in cell culture. Different kinds of endothelial cells, in which ER multiply efficiently, could be grown in a scalable way in VueLife Teflon bags on Cytodex 3 microcarriers where bead-to-bead transfer of cells occurs. The digital holographic microscope designed at the Universit´e Libre de Bruxelles allows detection of the most appropriate time to harvest intracellular microorganisms for vaccine production. (Résumé d'auteur