Moredun Research Institute

The Moredun Research Institute is a scientific research institution based at the Pentlands Science Park, in the Bush Estate area of Midlothian, Scotland. It conducts research into diseases of farm livestock and the promotion of animal health and welfare.

Moredun employs over 200 vets, scientists and support staff, funded primarily by the Agriculture, Food and Rural Communities Directorate of the Scottish Government. The Institute received £7.1 million from the government in 2010-11.

The Animal Diseases Research Association, now the registered charity the Moredun Foundation, was founded in 1920 by a group of Scottish farmers, with the aim of improving the health of livestock, especially sheep. The association founded a research institute employing vets and scientists, and over the decades the scope of animal health work expanded to cover goats, cows, horses and wildlife.

The Institute was originally based at Moredun, in Edinburgh.

The origins of Moredun go back to the years following World War I which saw an increased demand for home grown food and a significant rise in the market value of livestock. This emphasised the seriousness of the losses associated with disease and concerned farmers voiced their strong support for an organised body to conduct research into livestock diseases. In the 1920s Louping Ill and Braxy claimed almost a third of the lambs born in Scotland and Grass Sickness was having a devastating effect on horses, which were used for heavy labour on farms at that time. In March 1920 a group of enlightened Scottish farmers held a public meeting at the Highland and Agricultural Society’s chambers in Edinburgh and the Animal Diseases Research Association (now known as The Moredun Foundation) was formed. Within six years the founder members had raised enough funds to buy a plot of land and build the Moredun Research Institute. Within ten years of the Research Institute opening, Moredun scientists had discovered the cause and developed vaccines and treatment strategies for Braxy and lamb dysentery. Scientists then went on to solve the mystery of Louping Ill which was found to be caused by a virus transmitted by ticks and a vaccine was soon developed.

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