Prof Griffin, who heads the university department of microbiology and immunology, was late last year awarded the Royal Society of New Zealand's Pickering Medal, the country's top award for achievement in technology.
Award organisers noted Prof Griffin had for three decades led an Otago University-based research team devoted to solving animal-health problems in the deer industry.
He was honoured for his work in developing diagnostic tests for detecting two major bacterial diseases of New Zealand deer: bovine tuberculosis and Johne's disease; and a vaccine to prevent yersiniosis in deer.
The resulting products and services have saved the deer industry $80 million to $90 million in production that otherwise would have been lost.
In an interview, Prof Griffin noted a former United States surgeon-general, William Stewart, had predicted in 1969 the threat of tuberculosis would be eliminated by 2000.
In fact, Tb kills about 1.7 million people throughout the world each year, mainly in the developing world, with Southeast Asia one of the regions hardest hit.
Prof Griffin said the Otago research had involved ''an amazing journey that has highlighted the aspiration that we can lead worldwide research in infectious diseases using a combination of smart science and unique animal resources''.
This research, long backed by AgResearch, had also generated ''lots of new information about protective immunity [vaccine efficacy] that will allow us to develop new vaccines to protect both animals and humans against infection in the future''.
Otago researchers had gained ''unique access to unique deer breeds that allow us to further explore the fundamental pathways of immunity that define resistance or susceptibility to infectious disease''.
It was planned to ''map the genes that underpin resistance or susceptibility to infectious disease so that they can be applied for the improved control of infectious disease in animals and humans''.
Overseas researchers were realising New Zealand deer provided ''a wonderful model to study Tb''.
Prof Griffin was confident such deer would become a model for ''improved diagnostic precision, vaccine efficacy and heritable resistance to infectious disease'' that would be relevant to ''other animal species and humans'' in future.