Issue 19,  July - August 2011

Visiting Pathologist from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine

On July 14, 2011, Avian Anatomic Pathologist from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon, Dr. Susantha Gomis, visted the Department of Pathology and Microbiology. Dr. Gomis met Anatomic Pathologists here at AVC and gave a necropsy demonstration to Pathology and Microbiology summer and graduate students. According to Dr. Heather Fenton who coordinated this visit, “much was learned about poultry diseases and avian necropsy techniques”.  Photo Left to right: Drs.Susantha, Steve Scott, Carolyn Legge, Alonso Reyes and Edel Borha
 

Annual Meeting of the Society of Invertebrate Pathology

The 44th Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology was held at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia on August 7-11, 2011. Dr. Rick Cawthorn was the opening speaker of the conference with his talk on "Crustacean Diseases (and Health): A Canadian Perspective".  Fraser Clark (PhD candidate) received 2nd place and Peter Gaudet (MSc candidate) received an Honourable Mention for their oral presentations. Peter is co-supervised by Drs. Rick Cawthorn and Spencer Greenwood (Biomedical Sciences), while Fraser is supervised by Spencer Greenwood. Other graduate students giving well received oral presentations were Daniel Hines (MSc candidate) supervised by Spencer Greenwood, and Melanie Buote (PhD candidate) co-supervised by Drs. Rick Cawthorn and Andrea Battison.

• Clark KF, Acorn AR, Greenwood SJ. Differential expression of immune related genes during bacterial infection in the American lobster (Homarus americanus).
   
• Clark KF, Greenwood SJ. Expression of Cpn60 by Aerococcus viridans var. homari is associated with virulence during infection of the American lobster Homarus americanus.
   
• Hines D, Acorn AR,  Clark KF,  Rochette R, Tremblay JM, Comeau M, Greenwood SJ. Characterization of bacterial flora in the hemolympyh of juvenile American lobster, Homarus americanus.
   
• Gaudet PH, Cawthorn RJ, Greenwood SJ, Wadowska D, Wright G. Trichocyst development and their potential role in Hematodinium sp. survival.
   
• Gaudet PH, Cawthorn RJ, Greenwood SJ, Wadowska D, Wright G. In vitro cultivation of Hematodinium sp. and characterization of developmental stages.
  
  Additionally, the AVC group attended the OECD Co-operative Research Programme Funded Symposium Disease in Aquatic Crustaceans: Problems and Solutions for Global Food Security, held on August 7, 2011.

OIE Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health Programes

Dr. Fred Kibenge was an invited speaker at the OIE Second Global Conference on Aquatic Animal Health held in Panama City (Panama) on 28-30 June 2011. Approximately 300 delegates attended the 2.5 days of oral presentations and panel discussions. Dr. Kibenge's presentation was titled "Laboratory issues - Aquatic animal disease, diagnosis and global trends" in which he reviewed the global trends in the spread of diseases of aquatic animals, provided an update on the global status of infectious salmon anemia, reviewed current trends in laboratory diagnosis and pathogen surveillance, and identified challenges faced by diagnostic laboratories for aquatic animal diseases.  In the photo is Dr. Kibenge with Dr. Franck Berthe on his right, during a conference luncheon. Dr. Berthe was Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Health Sciences, Mulluscs Health, in the Department from 2004 to 2007. All presentations and recommendations from this meeting will be added shortly to the website, for more information click here

AVC Summer Research Leadership Program

Jennifer Hurford, AVC Class of 2013, presented her research "Developing a PCR based diagnostic tool for Streptococcus equi subsp. equi in horses" at the AVC Summer Research Leadership Program Posters Presentations held on Monday, August 15, 2011 in the McCain Foundation Learning Commons.  Jennifer was co-supervised by Drs. Ahmed Siah and Anne Muckle, and worked in the Diagnostic Services Bacteriology Laboratory  as a summer student.

Coffee Party for Faculty, Students and Visiting Professors

The Coffee Party for faculty, staff and students in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology was held on August 18, 2011, in the McCain Foundation Learning Commons.  Thanks to the excellent organization by Rita Saunders, the party went off without a hitch. This year’s reception served to bid a fond farewell to several people who are leaving the Department and moving on to greener pastures, to recognize and thank the DVM students who have worked with Path/Micro faculty this summer, and to welcome several people who have recently joined the department.

Dr. Carolyn Legge, a DVM and MSc graduate of AVC/UPEI, completed her MVSc/Residency program in Anatomic Pathology under the supervision of Dr. Paul Hanna and Dr. Alfonso Lopez, and will be moving into a new position with the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture.

Dr. Betsy O’Neil, a DVM graduate of AVC/UPEI, completed her MVSc/Residency program in Clinical Pathology under the supervision of Dr. Shelley Burton and Dr. Barb Horney.

Dr. Soraya Sayi, a BVSc graduate of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Zimbabwe, completed a term faculty position in April this year.

Dr. Maribel Quiroga, faculty pathologist at the University of Santiago de Compostela  is completing three months as Visiting Professor hosted by Drs. Gerry Johnson, Dave Groman and  Alfonso Lopez.  Maribel will be returning to Spain at the end of this month.

 Zoe Little, from Central Services recently accepted a permanent position with the Aquatic Animal Facility.
 

Farewell gift to Dr. Carolyn Legge from Dr. Kibenge

Farewell gift to Dr. Betsy O’Neil  from Dr. Kibenge

 We welcome the following people who have recently joined the department:

 Dr. Richard "Mick" Fulton, is here as an external locum to teach the 4^th year Poultry rotation.

 Dr. Dania Villarnovo from the United States started her MVSc/Residency program in Clinical Pathology under the supervision of Dr. Shelley Burton and Dr. Barb Horney.

 Dr. Edel Borha from the National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, Nigeria, started her PhD program in June under the supervision of Dr. Enrique Aburto and Dr. Paul Hanna.

 Dr. Ana Gradil from Portugal started her MSc program in May under the supervision of Dr. Mark Fast.

 We also extend a warm welcome to the new boy babies born to Fraser and Sarah Clark, and Haythm and Hala Ali.

 Finally, we would like to congratulate Michael Ciaramella who successfully defended his MSc Thesis on Monday on August 15. Michael was supervised by Dr. Andrea Battison and Dr. Barb Horney.  

CCWHC Atlantic Group Attends Wildlife Disease Association Meeting

The Atlantic Veterinary College node of the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre (CCWHC) was well represented during the recent 60th Annual International Meeting of the Wildlife Disease ssociation (WDA).  The meeting, held in Quebec City in August of 2011, was attended by over 300 wildlife professionals from around the world.  Drs María Forzán and Heather Fenton (wildlife pathologist and wildlife pathology MVSc candidate, respectively), veterinary students Jessicca Mitchell, Marianne Parent and Tricia Fleming, and MSc candidate Whitney Kelly-Clark traveled to Quebec to participate in the meeting.  The group contributed three oral presentations (MF, JM and WKC) and two posters (HF and MP) in topics including diseases and habitat quality of amphibians, an emerging disease of passerine birds, and causes of mortality of harbour porpoises.

Photo from left to right: Jessicca Mitchell, Marianne Parent, Tricia Fleming, Whitney Kelly-Clark, and Drs. Maria Forzan and Heather Fenton

Conference Presentations

MacLellan RMA, Kibenge MJT and Kibenge FSB. 2011. What types of genetic changes occur to infectious salmon anaemia virus (ISAV), a fish orthomyxovirus, during mixed infections with different ISAV genotypes? 2011 Merial-NIH National Veterinary Scholars Symposium, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, Gainesville, Florida, USA, August 4-7, 2011

Recent Publications

Ali H, Ali AA, Atta MS, Cepica A. Common emerging, vector-borne and Infrequent abortogenic virus infections of cattle. (A review). Transbound Emerg Dis. 2011 Jul 7. pp 1-15.
 

Graduate Student Departmental Representative

Congratulations to Fraser Clark who has been selected by the graduate students in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology as their communications person with the department. He will be the contact person for graduate student communications in the department and would be invited to attend departmental faculty meetings as a guest to present their issues. This will enhance communication and participation within our department.

Multiple Choice Question Writing

Dr. Shelley Burton gave a Brown Bag Lunch seminar titled "Multiple Choice Question Writing" on August 4, 2011. It was held at the UPEI Webster Centre and was open for all UPEI faculty to attend.  Writing good quality multiple choice questions is an ongoing challenge for educators.  Dr. Burton has experience writing questions for the National Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (NBVME) and the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) Examination Committee. The seminar focused on the principles of multiple choice question writing and ended with examples of flawed questions for the group to critique.

Council of Canadian Academies: Annual Report 2010/11

The Council of Canadian Academies is an independent not-for-profit corporation that provides advice on science matters to enrich Canadian policy development and decision-making. It consist is of three founding Member Academies: the Royal Society of Canada (RSC); the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE); and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS). Some past and present AVC Faculty Members who have been appointed to CAHS are Dr. Alastair Cribb (Dean, Faculty of Vet Medicine, University of Calgary), Dr. Ian Dohoo (Director of CVER, UPEI), and Dr. Andy Tasker (Director of ACCBR). The Council's 2010/11 annual report was recently released and it is available on line.  You are encouraged to read this report and find out more about the interesting work of the Council.

Summer Students Working in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology

This year, five DVM students have been working with faculty this summer, and on Monday August 15th put on an excellent poster session of their work in the McCain Foundation Learning Commons:

 Bridget Donovan worked with Dr. Mark Fast.

 Tricia Fleming worked with the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Centre (CCWHC)

 Rebecca MacLellan worked with Dr. Fred Kibenge.

 Tara MacLeod worked with Dr. Mark Fast and Dr. Fred Kibenge.

 Waylon Wiseman worked with anatomic pathologists in the postmortem room.

Departmental Seminars for Fall Semester 2011

The seminar series for Biomedical Sciences and Pathology and Microbiology for the academic year 2011-2012 will be held on Thursdays at 10:30 am at AVC Lecture Theater “C”. 

Date

Topic

Presenter

Sept 15

So you think you can give an great presentation? Yes you can!

Dr. Alfonso Lopez
Pathology  Microbiology

Sept 22

Low-dose demoic acid induces cell proliferation and neurogenesis in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures

Dr. Anabel Perez
Biomedical Sciences

Sept 29

The analysis of gene expression in endosulfan exposed Homarus americanus larvae using an oligonucleotide microaary

Megan Bauer
Pathology  Microbiology

Oct 6

Algicolous fungi:  strategies towards drug discovery

Ghada Ebead
Biomedical Sciences

Oct 13

Molecular characterization of 33K (non structural) protein of bovine adenovirus type 3

Dr. Vikas Kulshrestha
Pathology  Microbiology

Oct 20

Exploring Eunicea fusca associated bacteria for the production of marine natural products

Rebecca Pike
Biomedical Sciences

Oct 27

Hepatotoxicity through VEGFR-2-pathway inhibition in Sprague Dawles rtas

Trohadio Munoz
Biomedical Sciences

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