About NARF
The National Avian Research Facility was founded in 2013 on The University of Edinburgh's Easter Bush campus, UK. It is supported by The University of Edinburgh, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Roslin Foundation and Wellcome Trust.
Our mission is to improve the health and welfare of poultry by providing resources for research into avian immunology, host-pathogen interactions, physiology and behaviour, developmental biology, and genetics. This research provides knowledge and evidence that directly benefits global food security and human health.
The National Avian Research Facility utilises state-of-the-art technologies, including genome engineering technologies and maintains lines of birds with valuable genetic characteristics.
The NARF is home to one of the largest number of transgenic chicken lines, including sterile surrogate hosts, multiple reporter lines and the only immune cell reporter line in the world. Some of the lines available represent a considerable investment by BBSRC and other governmental departments over many years, with some tracing their origins to the late 1920s.
The facility consists of two units; one conventional and one that has specified pathogen free (SPF) status. We are continuously developing new genetically altered chicken lines to aid in research under both conventional and SPF conditions.
Find out more about our Avian Resources Here
Useful links
Genomics/ bioinformatics
- Avian Genomics Group
- Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health
- Ensembl vertebrate genome browser
- Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG)
- GEISHA - gallus expression in situ hybridization analysis
Immunology
Developmental biology
- The Node - the community site for and by developmental biologists
- GEISHA - gallus expression in situ hybridization analysis
- Roslin Institute Chicken Embryology (RICE)