OVC News

Vaccine research targets cancer cells

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:57:27 -0500

Breakthroughs often happen when scientific fields are bridged, says Prof. Byram Bridle, a viral immunologist who joined the Department of Pathobiology in January. And he believes he may have discovered one: Bridle’s research bridges virology and immunology and may be the foundation for a very promising new approach to treating cancer.

Here’s how it works. Bridle started out studying immunological strategies for fighting cancer. “We all have cancer cells showing up in our body from time to time,” he explains, “but usually our immune system gets rid of them. It’s designed to protect us from things that are dangerous, including cancer.” And most of the time, it works. Only a small percentage of cells escape from the immune system and develop into tumours.

Clearly, the body’s natural response was not enough in those cases, so immunologists have been looking for ways to, in Bridle’s words, “hyperactivate the immune system.”

Bridle’s research involved using vaccinations to accomplish this. “Just like when you have a flu vaccination, the ingredients in the vaccine show the immune system what to look for and what to attack. In the cancer vaccine, we take specific proteins from the cancer cells that are different or expressed in larger amounts than in normal cells, and use them in a vaccine. That tells the immune system ‘this is what your tumour looks like, go do a better job of getting rid of it.’”

For more, read the profile in At Guelph.

Rounds for general practitioners: building relationships with clients

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:05:00 -0500

The OVC Health Sciences Centre is reaching out to referring veterinarians by hosting monthly General Practitioner Rounds.

Each month, OVC specialists will cover a different topic with information from recent cases at the OVC Health Sciences and answer questions from participants about cases they’ve encountered in their own practices.

The first event in the series takes place Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in Room 1715, OVC Lifetime Learning Centre. The topic is “Emergency and Critical Care: Acute Kidney Injury.” The discussion will be led by Drs. Alexa Bersenas and Marie Holowaychuk from the Department of Clinical Studies and Dr. Vincent Gauthier, emergency and critical care resident.

Registration is free. The evening gets underway with dinner at 6:30 p.m.

Upcoming sessions include:

• March 7 Oncology

• April 4 Avian & Exotics

• May 2 Internal Medicine

For more information or to RSVP, contact Christine Warne at warnec@uoguelph.ca or Ext. 53698.

Target DNA ‘shoelaces’ to fight cancer, study finds

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:48:30 -0500

Doctors and drug companies looking to treat cancer by targeting DNA’s “shoelaces” might gain support from a new study involving researchers at OVC.

The study shows that human tumours rely on the maintenance of shortened telomeres, or the protective ends of chromosomes – evidence that may help in developing anti-cancer drugs that target those structures, said Prof. Dean Betts, an adjunct professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Ontario Veterinary College, now at the University of Western Ontario.

The study, including key experiments done at the University of Guelph, is described in an article published online Cell Reports published this week.

For more, read the U of G news release.

College undertakes information technology review

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:21:56 -0500

The OVC, in partnership with U of G Computing and Communications Services, will be undertaking an OVC Information Technology Review. It has been six years since OVC last undertook an IT strategic planning process, and due to many changes in the college since that time, and coinciding with recent OVC and campus IT leadership changes, the timing for a review of this nature is appropriate. Planning began in November with Dean’s Council and outcomes from the review are anticipated for later this spring.

Rick Bunt, the University of Saskatchewan’s chief information officer and associate vice president of information and communications technology, has been engaged to facilitate the IT review. Rick has undertaken a number of IT reviews for other higher education institutions, and is uniquely qualified due to his blended academic and information technology experience, and his keen interest and in-depth experience in the strategic renewal of institutional systems and processes, change management and IT governance.

As part of the process, Rick will visit OVC later this week and meet with variety of college representatives including department chairs, associate deans, HSC and OVC administrators and the OVC ITS team.

The chairs and administrators have been encouraged to gather input from their areas to help inform the process, so if you have specific input you would like to share, please take time to direct this to your chair or director or administrator.

Rick will use the information gathered from these sessions to understand the future priorities of OVC, the current state of OVC ITS, and the broader IT environment on campus. He can then deliver his objective recommendations for the IT delivery model within OVC in a written report which can be reviewed by the OVC leadership and prioritized and implemented as appropriate.

Global Development Symposium: Think outside your discipline

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:36:00 -0500

How would you solve this problem? In large areas across South Asia people no longer grow and eat millet seeds, but favour less nutritious rice. And it’s affecting their health.

There are numerous reasons for this switch; far beyond crop production, markets, processing, gender and other factors play a role. “Certainly the fact that women find it harder to process millets than rice has had a big impact on production,” says sociology and anthropology professor Sally Humphries, who is also director of international development studies at U of G. “Understanding the role of gender relations in agricultural production is a key issue. There has to be a healthy dose of social science in any agricultural development project.”

Humphries says this university may be the best place to mix together the various doses of hard and soft science that help to improve outcomes in international health programs that affect people, animals and the environment. “The U of G is unique in the way it integrates different fields. Because we have OAC and OVC, as well as the more standard university departments, we have greater opportunities to think outside of our disciplines and work collaboratively in a big way.”

She adds: “You don’t solve problems by being narrowly focused.”

It’s normal for Humphries to work with people in other fields. Right now, she’s co-supervising doctoral students who are involved in a food security project in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka; the team on that project includes graduate students in food science, population medicine, plant science and integrative biology as well as international development studies. By combining knowledge and skills from these various fields, she says her students are able to make a much bigger contribution to the health of the entire community.

Dr. Roger Thomson, OVC ‘75, and Prof. Sally Humphries, director of U of G’s international development studies program, are members of the planning committee for the Global Development Symposium. The deadline for abstracts is Feb. 6.

Guelph grad Roger Thomson, DVM ’75, who owned a veterinary practice in Kincardine, Ont., says his international involvement started in a simple way. “I wanted to donate my old copies of veterinary journals rather than just throwing them out.” He was given the name of Prof. Uswege Minga of The Open University of Tanzania and ultimately travelled there to meet him; the men are now close friends.

Thomson’s purpose in Tanzania was to help a fellow veterinarian, but when they visited the village where Minga had grown up, Thomson saw that 90 of the 250 children at the local primary school had no desks. He made a commitment to fund desks for the school.

“Later, some of the students with OVC’s Global Vets program visited the village and pointed out that 20 per cent of the children in the secondary school were orphaned because their parents had died of HIV/AIDS,” says Thomson. “We started a project at the school so the students could learn to raise chickens, with the hope of selling the eggs and raising money to help the orphans.” Recently, students working for Veterinarians without Borders/Vétérinaires sans Frontières – Canada (VWB/VSF) set up classes for local farmers to teach them how to improve the health of their chickens.

When Thomson first visited the village in 2003, none of the elementary school children who were eligible to take the secondary school entrance exam were able to pass it. Now more than 70 per cent pass each year.

Thomson, who has been active with VWB/VSF since it was founded, says people think Vets Without Borders is just about animals. “But you can’t go into a village in a developing country like Tanzania without becoming involved in public health and environmental health as well. It’s all one.”

That’s the message Thomson, Humphries and others are hoping to build on at the Global Development Symposium to be held on campus May 6 to 9, hosted by the Ontario Veterinary College. The symposium is entitled Critical Links Between Human and Animal Health and has three themes: global public health, food security and health, and empowering communities for change.

Thomson says, “You could not have a better list of keynote speakers,” naming Stephen Lewis, former special U.N. envoy for HIV/AIDS and board chair of the Stephen Lewis Foundation in Canada; OVC grad Brian Evans, executive vice-president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency; Dr. David Butler-Jones, who heads the Public Health Agency of Canada; OVC grad John McDermott, director of the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research; and U of G president Alastair Summerlee.

Abstracts for the symposium are being accepted until Feb. 6. See www.gds2012.ca for information.

“We are looking for papers in any area around community development, food security, health, and how people have gone about achieving some of those goals,” says Humphries. While the event is being held at OVC and is part of the college’s 150th-anniversary celebrations, it is intended to include all disciplines. Humphries sees this event as a valuable opportunity to bring together researchers and others interested in these issues, from a variety of academic fields: “We need to think outside of our disciplines and work more collaboratively. It’s all interconnected.”

— by Teresa Pitman

CFI invests $1.2 million in U of G research leaders

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:04:12 -0500

Three OVC scientists are among nine University of Guelph researchers to share in more than $1.2 million awarded by the Canada Foundation of Innovation (CFI) this week to “innovation leaders.”

The announcement was made Tuesday by Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science and technology). In total, CFI will provide more than $33 million to support 132 research projects at 31 Canadian universities.

The majority of the funding — $25 million — will come from CFI’s Leaders Opportunity Fund (LOF), intended to help Canadian universities attract and retain leading faculty and researchers. The remaining $8 million is from the Infrastructure Operating Fund.

The OVC recipients are:

• Prof. Brandon Lillie, Department of Pathobiology, $122,619 to research genetic variations that increase disease susceptibility in livestock;

• Prof. Pavneesh Madan, Department of Biomedical Sciences, $126,486 to study molecular markers of embryonic competence or failure;

• Prof. Luis Arroyo, Department of Clinical Studies, $125,484 to study the vascular effects of pulmonary artery calcification in horses.

For more information, see the U of G news release.

Pet Trust funds awarded

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:59:03 -0500

From studying the pharmacology of a new anti-coagulant drug to understanding and treating inflammatory bowel disease, 14 research projects will share in $271,375 awarded in the fall 2011 OVC Pet Trust Fund research competition.

An additional $25,000 was awarded to support the purchase of new equipment.

The following projects received support:

• Dr. Olaf Berke ($3,000)

Time series analysis of feline retroviral infections

• Dr. Shauna Blois ($10,000)

Serum and urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin concentrations in dogs with sepsis and dogs with neoplasia

• Dr. Brigitte Brisson ($24,000)

Can silver-coated urinary catheters reduce the rate of bacteriuria and acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections in clinical canine patients at the OVC-HSC?

• Dr. Alice Defarges ($22,733)

Standardization of brochoalveolar lavage suction techniques to optimize diagnostic yield of canine lower airway supplies

• Dr. David Eshar ($1,072)

Comparison of Azostix Reagent Test Strips With Standard Automated Biochemical Analyzer for Blood Urea Nitrogen/Urea in Ferrets

• Dr. Anthony Mutsaers ($13,081)

Quantification of circulating growth factor/cytokine profiles to aid dose optimization of receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors toceranib and masitinib in canine cancer patients

• Dr. Tony Ogg ($39,972)

Hemostasis in cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy at diagnosis and following therapy with anti-platelet drugs

• Dr. Tony Ogg ($22,388)

Pharmacology of the Oral Acting Factor Xa inhibitor rivaroxaban in normal dogs and cats – pilot studies

• Dr. Chantale Pinard ($46,841)

COX-2 Expression in Uveitic Eyes and the Ocular and Systemic Effects of Topical NSAIDs in Cats

• Dr. Glen Pyle ($30,000)

A Molecular Investigation of Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Doberman Pinschers

• Dr. Dale Smith ($21,025)

Assessment of Seriological Tests to Detect Avian Bornavirus Infection

• Dr. Scott Weese ($16,350)

Preliminary Evaluation of Fecal Bacteriotherapy (Stool Transplantation) for Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• Dr. Darren Wood ($5,285)

Role of the Protein C Pathway in Pathogenesis of Dogs with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

• Dr. Geoffrey Wood ($15,628)

Investigation of Prognostic Markers in Canine Mammary Tumours Using Tissue Microarrays

Equipment Funds:

• Dr. Ron Johnson ($25,000)

Fluorescent microplate reader for the OVC High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) facility.

Gryphons salute OVC hockey at Frosty Mug game

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:15:06 -0500

The U of G Gryphons men’s hockey team honours OVC’s 150^th anniversary this week with a salute to the OVC Challenge Cup tournament at Friday’s Frosty Mug game against the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks.

Game time is 7:30 p.m. on Friday at the Sleeman Centre in downtown Guelph.

OVC students, faculty and staff are encouraged to come to the game, cheer on the Gryphons and support the college. Members of the Class of 2013 will be selling tickets to the game on Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the lunch break outside the OVC cafeteria. Tickets can also be purchased from the Gryphon box office or at the game.

The Frosty Mug is a Gryphons tradition held each year at the Sleeman Centre. This year, in honour of OVC’s 150th anniversary, the new sterling silver Challenge Cup trophy will be on display for the first time and the ceremonial puck drop will be conducted by a current OVC student and a member of the Class of 1952. OVC hockey photos and videos will be shown on the scoreboard during the intermissions.

The new trophy was created by Biomedical Sciences Prof. Brad Hanna to mark the college’s 150^th and the 82^nd OVC Challenge Cup. The tournament has been an annual rite of student life since 1931, when OVC’s then-principal C.D. McGilvray donated a shield that formalized inter-class hockey competition.

A few years ago, Hanna purchased an antique silver cup that is similar in age and appearance to the original Stanley Cup. Since then, Hanna has been working with one of the country’s finest silversmiths and refining his own metal-working skills to build a base for the cup and engrave the names of each team to win the Challenge Cup since 1931.

The new trophy will be presented for the first time to winners of the Challenge Cup finals on March 30.

College welcomes SCVMA Symposium

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:45:00 -0500

The Ontario Veterinary College welcomes student veterinarians from across the country this week as Guelph hosts the 25th Students of the Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (SCVMA) Symposium.

The annual event brings together students from each of the five Canadian veterinary schools for several days of lectures, labs, and clinical presentations as well as tours and social events. The symposium gets underway with the arrival of the students on Wednesday and wraps up on Sunday.

For more information on the weekend’s activities, download the symposium program.

OVC last hosted the symposium in 2008 and this year’s gathering is extra-special because it marks the first major event on the calendar for OVC’s 150th anniversary celebrations in 2012.

“On behalf of the students, administration, faculty, and staff of the Ontario Veterinary College, welcome to the 25th SCVMA Symposium. We know that you are going to have a great time participating in educational and social activities over the next few days. It will also be a tremendous opportunity for you to network with colleagues from across the country. As we begin the celebration of OVC’s 150th Anniversary in 2012, we have been looking to our past, as we look to you, our profession’s future.”

“Au nom des étudiants, l’administration, les professeurs et le personel du Collège Vétérinaire de l’Ontario, bienvenue au 25ième Symposium EACMV. Nous savons que vous aurez beaucoup de plaisir en participant aux activités éducatives et sociales offerts au cours des prochains jours. On vous offre aussi une opportunité formidable afin de vous établir un réseau de contact. Comme que nous commençons notre 150e anniversaire du Collège en 2012, nous avons cherché à notre passé, et nous nous tournons vers vous, comme vous êtes les futurs de notre profession.”

Elizabeth Stone

Dean/Doyenne

OVC helping forge research ties with Brazil

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:52:09 -0500

Graduate students from OVC will head to Brazil in early 2012 under a new federally-funded scholarship program aimed at establishing closer research and development ties between Canada and Brazil.

Guelph and the University of Montreal will host 10 Brazilian exchange students over the next two years under the program, said Dr. Allan King, Biomedical Sciences, lead principal investigator in the North-South Reproductive Biotechnology Consortium.

The consortium is one of 11 projects supported under the Canada-Brazil – Joint Research Projects initiative that provides travel scholarships to PhD researchers. The $108, 000 over the next two years provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) will be matched by and equivalent amount from the Brazilian Government to allow Brazilian students to participate in research in Canada.

“Brazil is a world leader in reproductive biotechnology, particularly in the area of embryo transfer,” said King, whose relationship with researchers in that country dates back to the early 1980s.

“Where once we might have gone there to teach basic techniques, now we’re going to learn advanced skills as well.”

King said the Brazilians will benefit from OVC’s strengths in proteomics, genetics and molecular techniques, while Canadian students in Brazil will have the opportunity to see the application of reproductive technologies on a large scale, take part in large field trials and develop new laboratory skills.

The scholarship program, announced in August by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, is part of the Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program supported by DFAIT and the Brazilian Federal Agency for Support and Evaluation of Graduate Education (CAPES). It will help support 11 projects and over 90 researchers working in a wide range of disciplines.

The consortium headed by King also includes researchers at Queen’s University and the University of Montreal, and Brazil’s Sao Paulo State University and Para State University.

OVC mentors for the Brazilian PhD students include Profs. Jon LaMarre, Thomas Koch and Pavneesh Madan, as well as adjunct professor Gabriela Mastromonaco , who is now the curator of reproductive programs at the Toronto Zoo,.

“This is a very exciting opportunity for OVC and for Canada,” said King. “Our students will get a glimpse of research in another country and learn about the important links between veterinary medicine and agriculture in an international context. The program may also lay the groundwork for future collaborations.”

Registration open for OVC Mini-Vet School

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:14:00 -0500

The OVC Mini-Vet School is back again this spring.

Registration is now open for the 2012 program where animal lovers, those considering a career in veterinary medicine, or anyone interested in learning more about animal science can get a feel for what it’s like to be a veterinarian.

Based on actual cases and current science and research, the program is designed for people of all ages and backgrounds. It offers fast-paced lectures taught by OVC faculty members on a variety of topics related to animal and human health as well as specialties such as cardiology, neurology, oncology, wildlife rehabilitation and zoo animal medicine.

The OVC Mini-Vet school runs over four Thursday evenings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. beginning March 1. All proceeds go to Global Vets, a student-based program at OVC that offers student veterinarians a unique opportunity to investigate animal health care in developing countries.

The OVC Mini Vet School is organized and run by student veterinarians who participate in the Global Vets Program.

Online registration is first-come, first-served, and spaces are limited. To register, visit the website. Early bird registration is $125 until Feb. 1. After that, the cost is $150.

U of G Winter Holidays Begin Dec. 23

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:53:57 -0500

The Ontario Veterinary College’s normal business operations will be reduced from Friday, Dec. 23, to Tuesday, Jan. 3, for winter holidays. Most University of Guelph offices will be closed during this period.

Academic and administrative offices will reopen and classes for veterinary students resume on Jan. 3, while regular class schedules resume Jan. 9 for the rest of the U of G campus.

The OVC Health Sciences Centre, including the Small and Large Animal Clinics, and the Farm Service Clinic, will be open for emergencies and urgent cases only from 4:30 p.m. Dec. 23 to 8 a.m. on Jan. 3. Please call:

• Small Animal Clinic 519-823-8830

• Large Animal Clinic 519-823-8840

• Farm Service Clinic 519-836-3510

Holiday hours of operation for the Hill’s Pet Nutrition Primary Healthcare Centre are:

• Closed Dec. 24-26

• Open Dec. 27-30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

• Closed Dec. 31-Jan. 2.

Campus Community Police will be open during the holiday period and may be reached at Ext. 52000 in case of emergencies and at Ext. 52245 for non-emergency calls.

The Athletics Centre will be open Dec. 27 to Dec. 30 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The fitness rooms will close 30 minutes prior to the building’s closure time.

On Dec. 31, access to roadways leading onto the University campus property will be closed to the public for a 24-hour period from 12:01 a.m. to midnight. Staff working on University business may access the closed section, but members of the public using the roadways during the closure period may be stopped by University police.

Have a safe and happy holiday season.

New facility to advance public health, zoonoses research

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:40:15 -0500

The University of Guelph today opened a new research facility to help prevent and control emerging animal-related diseases that threaten public health.

Based at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC), the new laboratories will support investigations by researchers in U of G’s Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses (CPHAZ). Scientists will use state-of-the-art equipment to address new or re-emerging zoonotic diseases (those that can jump between animals and humans) such as the H1N1 flu virus, bird flu, E. coli O157:H7 and West Nile virus.

“Scientists and public health experts are increasingly working together to protect the health of both animals and people, ” said OVC dean Elizabeth Stone.

“This new facility allows us to provide focus and leadership in solving important problems with zoonotic diseases and to disseminate this knowledge to inform policy decision-makers, animal industries and the public.”

Newly-created laboratories and equipment in the facility were funded in part by a $1-million grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund.

“We are grateful to CFI and to the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation,” said Rich Moccia, associate vice-president (research).

“Their investment will allow the University to continue its strong tradition of research and education in animal-related aspects of public health and collaborative partnerships.”

The Centre for Public Health and Zoonoses involves more than 40 U of G scientists, as well as government and industry collaborators. They investigate a variety of infectious diseases, including food-borne diseases and diseases affecting companion animals, food animals and wildlife.

The centre is directed by Jan Sargeant, a professor in OVC’s Department of Population Medicine and the holder of a $1-million Applied Public Health Chair funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Zoonotic diseases are a major public health threat worldwide, said Sargeant, and veterinarians are uniquely equipped to investigate and find solutions.

“Up to 75 per cent of emerging diseases that pose a threat to human health originate in animal populations, whether it’s avian flu or new strains of antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs,’” she said.

“We have an important role to play in developing knowledge and expertise in this area and integrating them in the public health system.”

Sargeant said the centre will expand its research in the new facilities, including laboratories for studying bacteria and molecules and “supercomputer” facilities for disease monitoring and surveillance which is a joint effort with the Department of Math and Statistics in the College of Physical and Engineering Sciences.

Integrating research and surveillance efforts will help predict problems and understand and control infectious diseases, she said.

A cryo-storage facility will allow veterinarians to store collected samples which can then be used in the future to develop and validate diagnostic tests, vaccines and virulence factors.

“It will build even stronger collaborations between researchers in different disciplines and allow us to conduct cutting-edge research that would not be possible without this resource,” Sargeant said.

For media questions, contact Communications and Public Affairs: Lori Bona Hunt, 519-824-4120, Ext. 53338, or lhunt@uoguelph.ca, or Shiona Mackenzie, Ext. 56982, or shiona@uoguelph.ca.

Alumnus honoured by city of Ottawa

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:21:16 -0500

An OVC alumnus has been honoured by the City of Ottawa for his legacy of service to the community.

On Dec. 9, the city officially renamed the hall at the West Carleton community complex Dr. Roland Armitage Hall in recognition of the many contributions of the OVC ’51 graduate.

“Dr. Armitage has contributed exceptional devotion and service to the citizens of Ottawa, the province of Ontario, and Canada as a whole,” states a news release from the city.

“As a veterinarian and veterinarian surgeon, Dr. Armitage cared for thousands of horses over his career, earning a reputation as being a leader in his profession and the horse racing world.”

Armitage was just 17 when he volunteered for service with the Royal Canadian Artillery in the Second World War and took part in the Normany campaign and the liberation of France. Following the war, he attended the OVC and graduated in 1951. During his career, he became a leading force in the harness-racing industry and was a successful breeder of standardbreds. His natural and infectious enthusiasm for the sport made him a valuable ambassador for the equine industry.

He also held public office. Following a narrow defeat in the 1990 provincial election as the Liberal candidate in the riding of Carleton, he would go on to serve as mayor of the Township of West Carleton and as a member of the council for the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton.

Research chair focuses on clinical nutrition

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:15:48 -0500

An innovative new faculty position at the University of Guelph’s Ontario Veterinary College will ensure that dogs and cats receive the best nutritional care in hospital and that student veterinarians have the tools they need to help future clients make healthy choices for their pets.

“The impact of nutrition on health and disease is an increasingly important area of veterinary science,” said Prof. Adronie Verbrugghe, who has been named the first holder of the Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Endowed Chair in Canine and Feline Clinical Nutrition.

“By paying attention to nutrition, we can delay the progression of disease and help pets live longer and improve the quality of their lives. That’s what it’s all about.”

Verbrugghe starts her new position in OVC’s Department of Clinical Studies this month. It’s supported by Royal Canin Canada Co. $3-million investment in the endowed chair at OVC, which is the first of its kind in Canada.

Said Gregory Watine, CEO of Royal Canin Canada, “We’re a dog and cat first company and we’re confident that our partnership with the University of Guelph will break new ground, leading to innovative nutritional research that will not only benefit sick or hospitalized animals but also help maintain and improve the well-being of healthy dogs and cats around the world.”

For more information, see the U of G news release.

‘Longest road possible’ led Mutsaers back to OVC

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 09:24:33 -0500

Call it the “Terry Fox effect.”

New OVC professor Tony Mutsaers was a child when Terry Fox ran through the small town outside London where Mutsaers was living, but he’s never forgotten it. Seeing Fox – who had lost a leg to cancer and died before completing his fundraising run across Canada – sparked Mutsaers’s interest in trying to find ways to defeat cancer.

That’s still his goal today. “I focus on bone cancers, which is what Terry Fox had,” he points out. “My PhD research was funded by the Terry Fox Foundation. He really did inspire me.”

However, Mutsaers muses that he might have taken “the longest road possible” to get to his new position in OVC, where he will mix both clinical and research work to combat cancer in dogs – research that will have implications for people with cancer as well.

As he explains: “Testing medications for people requires involving thousands of patients and large amounts of money. The challenge is to make sure the drugs used in those studies are the ones with the most potential to be helpful.” Research using animals helps to do that. In the past, many drugs have been tested on rodents but Mutsaers finds that these studies are not necessarily predictive of how the treatments will work with people.

“These bone cancers occur naturally in dogs,” he says, “so it makes sense to do the research while we treat them. OVC has the experience to run ethical trials with animals, and we are part of a consortium to do larger trials with other veterinary schools. Our goal is to help the animals with these cancers and also provide knowledge that can help people.”

For more, read the story in At Guelph.

New post-doctoral position at OVC supported by Banfield Pet Hospital

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:15:54 -0500

A new research focus at the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) supported by Banfield Pet Hospital will advance evidence-based health care for pets by answering important questions about nutrition and health in cats and dogs.

In partnership with Banfield, the OVC has created a two-year post-doctoral position in companion animal epidemiology that will expand the scope of the college’s renowned work in veterinary epidemiology.

“This is a phenomenal and exciting opportunity,” said Dr. Cate Dewey, chair of the Department of Population Medicine. “OVC has more epidemiologists than any other veterinary school in North America, but until now most of our work has been related to farm animal production medicine and public health. By partnering with Banfield, OVC can help generate new knowledge in support of quality veterinary care and evidence-based medicine for pets.”

Dr. Chika Okafor, a veterinarian with a M.Sc. and Ph.D. from Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, is the recipient of the post-doctoral position. With a background in private clinical practice, public health and epidemiology, Okafor will be seeking new ways to improve the health, welfare and lifespan of companion animals.

“Because we analyze population-based data over time, epidemiologists can answer questions about health outcomes that cannot be answered in smaller studies of individual animals,” Dr. Okafor said. “I will be working with colleagues at OVC and the research team at Banfield to assess the impacts of nutrition and preventive care on the health of pets.”

In partnership with Banfield’s internal research team, Banfield Applied Research & Knowledge (BARK), Dr. Okafor will have the opportunity to use OVC’s expertise in epidemiology to synthesize information from Banfield’s proprietary electronic medical records system that collects data from its network of veterinary hospitals. Banfield is currently the world’s largest veterinary practice with more than 780 hospitals throughout the United States.

“Banfield is delighted to partner with Dr. Okafor during his post-doctorate research work at OVC,” said Elizabeth Lund, DVM, MPH, Ph.D., senior director of BARK. “Together, we look forward to uncovering nutritional relationships with health and diseases. For example, we would like to better understand why dogs get bladder stones and how that might be related to nutrition—these findings would allow us to provide better preventive care recommendations and ongoing treatment for affected dogs.”

Research and new findings generated through Dr. Okafor’s position are expected to be published in peer-reviewed journals to benefit the veterinary profession, pets and pet owners around the world.

About the Ontario Veterinary College (OVC)

The Ontario Veterinary College (OVC) is a world leader in veterinary health care, learning and research. Since 1862, its teachers and researchers have been working at the intersection of animal, human and ecosystem health: training future veterinarians and scientists, improving the health of our animal companions, ensuring the safety of food and protecting the environment.

About Banfield Pet Hospital
Founded in Portland, Ore., in 1955, Banfield has become the largest general veterinary practice in the world, with more than 780 hospitals in neighborhoods across the United States. More than 2,400 veterinarians at Banfield are committed to giving pets the highest quality of veterinary care.

For media questions, contact: Barry Gunn, OVC communications officer at 519-824-4120, Ext. 54414 or bagunn@uoguelph.ca, or Brett Rolin, associate communications specialist at Banfield, The Pet Hospital, at 503-922-5414 brett.rolin@banfield.net, or call the Banfield media hotline at 888-355-0595.

U of G sweeps animal welfare competition

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:46:45 -0500

The University of Guelph swept the 2011 animal welfare judging competition, besting teams from across North America to win first place in all three divisions: undergraduate, DVM and graduate student.

Held this week at Michigan State University (MSU), the event attracted 20 teams from across the continent. It was sponsored by the American Veterinary Medical Association, MSU and Dean Foods, one of the largest retailers of dairy products in the United States.

“The success of our students at this competition reflects the strength of the University’s animal welfare program and the dedication of faculty and students to excellence,” said Tina Widowski, director of the University’s Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare and a professor of animal and poultry science.

For more, see the story in At Guelph.

OVC discovery may help fight ovarian cancer

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:01:00 -0500

A potential breakthrough in treating late-stage ovarian cancer has come from University of Guelph researchers who have discovered a peptide that shrinks advanced tumours and improves survival rates for this deadly but often undetected disease.

“We’re extremely excited about this,” said Jim Petrik, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences who conducted the research with PhD student Nicole Campbell. “It has the potential, particularly in ovarian cancer, to have a significant impact.”

Their findings will appear in Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, published by the American Association for Cancer Research.

Ovarian cancer is the most lethal gynecological cancer. Its symptoms, which include nausea, bloating and abdominal pain, are vague and can be attributed to a number of ailments.

Often the disease remains undetected until it’s well advanced, when the odds of survival are poor. “It’s called the silent killer because it really does sneak up on you,” Petrik said.

He and Campbell discovered that ABT-898, a peptide derived from the thrombospondin molecule, shrinks established late-stage tumours in mouse models of ovarian cancer. In addition to regressing tumours, ABT-898 essentially prunes dysfunctional blood vessels in the tumour while leaving healthy vessels intact.

Petrik explains that chemotherapy treatment relies on blood vessels to transport tumour-fighting drugs. But abnormal blood vessels inside tumours make drug delivery inefficient.

“This new treatment enhances the ability to deliver chemotherapy drugs inside of the tumour where they need to go. So in combination with chemotherapy, it has fantastic potential.”

For more, read the U of G news release.

Schofield lecture caps grad student research symposium

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:29:12 -0500

The 2011 Schofield Memorial Lecture features the director of Colorado State University’s Flint Animal Cancer Centre.

Dr. Rodney Page will explore “The Continuum of Cancer Care in Veterinary Medicine” on Nov. 16 at 4 p.m. in Room 1714 of the OVC Lifetime Learning Centre.

The Schofield Lecture is held in conjunction with the OVC’s annual Graduate Student Research Symposium. The daylong event features poster sessions and presentations by U of G graduate students. Nearly 80 participants are expected at this year’s symposium, which gets under way at 10:30 a.m. with poster presentations in Room 1707 (adjacent to the OVC cafeteria).

A reception and awards celebration begins at 5 p.m. following the Schofield Lecture.

Page’s research is focused on the characterization of large animal models of cancer that provide sampling and imaging opportunities to address hypotheses not feasible in rodent models. Recently, he has been involved with the development of a large observational, lifetime study of dogs to define current cancer incidence and characterize the lifestyle, diet and environmental exposures potentially associated with development of cancer and significant health problems.

The Schofield lecture commemorates Francis Schofield, a renowned veterinary pathologist who taught at the college from 1921 to 1955. Internationally respected for his work in animal diseases, he is also revered in Korea during that country’s occupation by Japan.

For more information and a schedule of activities, visit the OVC graduate studies website.