Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) are two of the most devastating viral diseases that threaten the economic viability and sustainability of the global poultry and pork industries. Within the US, the latest AI outbreak, the fourth in ten years, occurred from October 2024 to April 2025 killing more than 60 million layers, broilers and turkeys and costs totaling over a billion dollars. That epidemic impacted 250 commercial farms across 29 states and ignited heated debates about the widespread implementation of vaccination as a control strategy. Meanwhile, as new variants of the PRRS virus emerge and persist across major pork-producing states, faced with ongoing losses like extreme neonatal pig mortality rates, swine producers incur annual costs in excess of $1 billion, while also grappling with declining mental health and well-being. As the US contemplates ‘“A world without PRRS” and limited HPAI impacts,’ AAI’s Veterinary Immunology Committee (VIC) is pleased to present “Gene editing technologies: A pathway to reduce immune vulnerabilities and mitigate economic losses in the swine and poultry industries,” on October 27, 3:30 PM EST. This webinar will feature two distinguished genetic engineers from the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, Dr. Paula Chen, a Research Molecular Biologist at USDA-ARS and Dr. Kiho Lee, the Director of the National Swine Resource and Research Center (NSRRC), and Professor in the Division of Animal Sciences. Dr. Chen will share the focus of her laboratory’s work, “Preventing Disease in Poultry Through Genome Editing,” while Dr. Lee will bring to us “Enhancing the Genetic Value of Pigs Using Gene Editing Technologies.” Food animal producers, scientists, human and veterinary medical students and professionals/practitioners are invited to tune in. This event will be moderated by Drs. Jeffrey A. Yoder, Executive Director, Genetics and Genomics Academy, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences at North Carolina State University, and Maisie Dawes, Food Animal Internist and Immunologist and former VIC Chair, at Western University of Health Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine.