Research

Food Animal Health Care and Management

More than one third of the WCVM's overall research activity relates to food animal health care and management - a traditional focus for the College's research program. WCVM-based research projects provide vital insight into the health issues and management of beef and dairy cattle, swine, sheep, poultry and specialized livestock.  

Researchers in several WCVM departments conduct basic and applied investigations in areas such as reproduction, genetics, infectious diseases, zoonoses, epidemiology, diagnostic pathology, herd health, veterinary public health and food safety.

While the federal and provincial governments provide the bulk of the funding for WCVM's food animal research initiatives, many WCVM scientists also receive support from a wide variety of livestock industry organizations across Canada. The College's food animal-focused faculty are also involved in research collaborations and teaching initiatives that span the globe.

• Adams, Gregg
  Basic and applied aspects of reproductive science and medicine. Dr. Adams' current projects include the characterization of reproductive events in wapiti and white-tailed deer, ovulation-inducing factors in llamas and alpacas, factors influencing oocyte competence in cattle, and synchrotron-based biomedical imaging of reproductive tissues.
• Allen, Andrew
  Congenital hypothyroidism of foals, investigations of equine sarcoids, and the potential association between liver concentrations of copper and iron and pregnant mares dying of hemmorhage from ruptured uterine arteries.
• Barth, Albert
  Bull fertility - including sperm morphology, pathogenesis of abnormal spermatogenesis, testis degeneration, vesicular gland infections, factors affecting pubertal development, serving capacity and seasonality.
• Campbell, John
  Epidemiology of bovine trichomoniasis, vitamin E and selenium status of cow-calf herds, and factors affecting culling of breeding bulls.
• Card, Claire
  The use of computer-assisted ultrasound image analysis, low dose insemination, semen cryopreservation, fertility of frozen semen, and breeding-induced inflammation in the mare. 
• Chicoine, Al
  Drug residues in food animals, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
• Clark, Chris
  Cattle lameness and the control and prevention of infectious disease. Dr. Clark has a particular interest in clinical pharmacology and is involved in the Canadian gFARAD initiative (Global Food Animal Residues Avoidance Databank).
• Dowling, Trisha
  Clinical pharmacology of antimicrobials and calcium channel blocking drugs.
• Ellis, John
  Canine infectious tracheobronchitis; particularly immunity to Bordetella bronchiseptica. Neonatal immunization of calves; particularly early immunization for bovine respiratory syncytial virus. Porcine circo and torqueteno viruses; pathogenesis and vaccine development.
• Epp, Tasha
  Zoonotic diseases, public health and epidemiology.
• Gerdts, Volker
  Development of neonatal vaccines; innate immunity at the respiratory surfaces (antimicrobial peptides); basic mechanisms of intestinal immunity; lymphocyte trafficking; mucosal immunology; chemokines; enteric infections; and knowledge transfer of basic research into applied clinical research and producers.
• Gomis, Susantha
  Basic and applied aspects of pathogenesis and control of bacterial diseases in poultry and mammalian species.
• Gow, Sheryl
  
• Haines, Deborah
  The study of the occurrence and prevention of failure of passive transfer of maternal antibody in cattle; immunohistochemical and rapid methods for diagnosis of immunodeficiencies, immune-mediated diseases, tumors and infectious diseases.
• Harding, John
  Swine health including investigations of porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), and the effects of fetal programming on fetal immunology and post-natal health of swine.
• Hendrick, Steven
  On-farm prevention and control of infectious and non-infectious diseases in beef and dairy cattle population (Johne's disease, Mycoplasma bovis, trace minerals and on-farm food safety).
• Liu, Qiang
  Elucidating molecular mechanisms of viral pathogenesis. Special research areas are human hepatitis viruses (such as hepatitis C virus) and porcine circoviruses.
• Lohmann, Katharina
  Inflammation, endotoxemia and host-pathogen interactions.
• Mapletoft, Reuben
  Dr. Mapletoft has a very active research and graduate student training program, paying particular attention to the control of ovarian function, superovulation,
• Marques, Fernando
  Infectious diseases, sepsis and inflammation; the immune response to infection and vaccine formulation; and the epidemiology of equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) in western Canadian horses.
• Palmer, Colin
  Semen collection and breeding soundness evaluation in the bull and postpartum metritis in the cow.
• Parker, Sarah
  Evaluation of diagnostic tests for surveillance of foodborne disease, risk factors for occurrence of pathogens during management prior to slaughter, health risk analysis comparing pathogen loads and chemical residue levels, and the epidemiology of food-borne disease.
• Petrie, Lyall
  Neonatal calf diarrhea and bovine lameness and problems of the bovine hoof.
• Pharr, John W.
  General ultrasonography, cardiac diagnostic imaging, orthopedic radiology, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography.
• Potter, Andrew
  Application of genomics to the animal health field. Dr. Potter's work also focuses on forging links between the animal and human infectious disease research communities to ensure that technologies common to both fields can be leveraged to their greatest benefit.
• Rawlings, Norman
  Basic and applied aspects of the regulation of ovarian folliculogenesis in sheep, and reproductive maturation in beef cattle.
• Rhodes, Charles
  Swine production medicine.
• Simko, Elemir
  Various aspects of comparative innate immunity, pathogenesis of infectious diseases and evidence-based diagnostic anatomic pathology of vertebrate species.
• Singh, Baljit
  Cell and molecular biology of lung inflammation. Dr. Singh's projects focus on mechanisms of neutrophil and monocyte migration into inflamed lungs, biology of pulmonary intravascular macrophages and environmental pulmonary toxicology.
• Singh, Jaswant
  The use and further development of the bovine model for the study of ovarian function in humans. Dr. Singh's current and past research has been directed towards studying the ultrasonographic, morphologic and biochemical kinetics of ovarian follicles to refine the bovine model.
• Smart, Marion (Meg)
  Small animal nutrition.
• Stookey, Joe
  Maternal and social behaviour of cattle, swine and sheep, plus the factors that influence handling and temperament in beef cattle.
• Waldner, Cheryl
  Examining the factors affecting the health and productivity of cow-calf herds in Western Canada. Dr. Waldner's current research includes drought related nutritional issues, BVDV, Neospora, zoonotic E. coli, antimicrobial resistance, and Cryptosporidia spp. and Giardia spp. in cow-calf herds. She also has a continuing interest in environmental epidemiology.
• Woodbury, Murray
  Basic and applied research into the determinants of disease and health in specialized livestock including bison, deer and elk.