On Oct. 22, 2025, a Roslin Institute led team announced they have developed pigs that are resistant to a highly infectious disease which has a significant impact on global pig farming.  

Their work demonstrates that gene editing can prevent infection of classical swine fever (CSF), a highly contagious, often fatal disease that is endemic in many countries, offering a promising new approach to disease control in livestock. 

The work was led by a Roslin Institute team using gene-editing technology to alter a protein which the virus depends on to make copies of itself in the pigs’ cells.  

Gene-edited pigs exposed to classical swine fever remained unaffected, while unedited animals showed clear signs of disease. 

This genetic change offered complete protection from infection without any observable negative effects on the animals’ health or development, and researchers believe the gene-edited pigs would be very unlikely to spread the virus to other animals. 

The research team notes that gene editing could contribute to an integrated strategy for disease prevention, in combination with vaccines and measures to prevent disease spread in farmed animals.