Linda Saif, professor with both Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine, has become a trailblazer in the research of viruses, particularly enteric and respiratory viral infections in animals and humans. Saif’s lab at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster researches these viruses to design vaccinations in both animals and humans.
Saif holds multiple active commercial licenses from her work. One of her licenses involved a vaccine to prevent widespread death in piglets and calves by vaccinating the mothers with live attenuated virus. The mothers then develops antibodies and passes them on in their milk to their young. The technique is now widespread in livestock.
In 2015, Saif became the first woman to be awarded Israel’s Wolf Prize in Agriculture. She has also been inducted into the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors as was named an Ohio State Distinguished University Scholar.