Issue 7, January 2010

The Chair's Welcome Back Message/Greeting

As we begin a new year and new semester, I would like to welcome everyone back. I hope that everyone is up to a great start with teaching, research and service activities. We are pleased to see Dr Jeff Lewis and Dr Gerry Johnson back.  This year promises to be exceptional for Departmental renewal; for the first time in more than a decade we will get two or more new tenure-track faculty members. The last time the department hired more than one tenure-track faculty member in one year was in 1989. We welcome Dr Soraya Sayi in her new position as Term Diagnostic Anatomic Pathologist, part-time. Two new graduate students have joined the department, Anil Kalupahana and Megan Bauer. We say goodbye to Dr Xin Yi who has moved to a new research position in Phyterra Inc in the NRC-INH building. Dr Pierre-Yves Daoust, Dr Alfonso Lopez, and myself participated in a recent information session for the AVC Class of 2011 selection of 4th year elective clinical rotations. The combined Departmental seminar series is registering its best attendance this academic year. There have been two calls for nominations to recognize excellence in teaching and in scholarly activities. I encourage you to consider nominating your colleagues for these prestigious awards. Research grant writing never stops, and there are several deadlines looming.  Detailed information is available at the end of this newsletter.

New Graduate Students

Megan Bauer is originally from Riverview NB and obtained her honours degree in biology from Dalhousie University in 2009.  Before joining the AVC Lobster Science Centre and the Department of Pathology & Microbiology, Megan was a laboratory technician at Environment Canada in Moncton NB where she worked on pesticide exposure on various aquatic and marine organisms.  She started her Master of Science in January 2010 under the supervision of Dr Spencer Greenwood, as well as Paula Jackman and Fabiola Akaishi of Environment Canada.  In collaboration with Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, her research will look at the effects of pesticide exposure on gene expression in lobster larvae.  After completing her degree, Megan would like to continue her research career.  

Dr Anil W. Kalupahana, B.V.Sc, (Sri Lanka), M.Sc. (APU, UK) is one of the recipients of the 2009/2010 Department of Pathology and Microbiology graduate student scholarship for PhD studies. He will be performing his PhD research under the co-supervision of Dr Fred Kibenge and Dr Scott McBurney.

Dr Kalupahana’s research involves characterization of avian reoviruses recovered from wild birds in Prince Edward Island. Back home, Anil is attached to the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya and he is currently on study leave for his PhD studies.
 

Food and Environmental Parasitology Network

On November 3, 2009, the Food and Environmental Parasitology Network held its inaugural meeting at Health Canada in Ottawa. Parasitologists from across Canada met to discuss collaborative research opportunities in the areas of food and waterborne protozoan parasites, zoonotic parasites and fisheries and aquaculture parasites that will lead to the development of validated standardized methods, generate data for risk assessment and policy development and provide expert advice and testing in support of crisis management. The meeting was attended by 28 of the 52 members, including Drs Nicole Guselle and Spencer Greenwood.

Our Alumnus

Dr Julio Martinez-Burnes, MVZ, MSc (Mexico) completed his PhD in Pathology at AVC in 2001 under the auspices of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).  After leaving Canada, Dr Martinez returned to his alma mater, the  University of Tamaulipas in northern Mexico where he has been a dynamic faculty member.  He teaches graduate and undergraduate veterinary pathology, supervises graduate students and also helps with diagnostic work in the University of Tamaulipas’ veterinary laboratory.  Soon after his return from Canada, Dr Martinez established an inter-institutional research group with three other universities in Mexico and with AVC in Canada.  This group focus is with perinatal mortality in piglets, foals, calves and puppies.  Results from this investigation have culminated with numerous scientific publications and one book.  He is currently a member of the national research network in Mexico.   In the diagnostic laboratory, Dr Martinez started the immunohistochemistry tests for infectious respiratory agents.  In 1996, he was seconded by the State government to assume the position of General Director for the Tamaulipas Council of Science and Technology. This Council promotes science and technology and it is the main linkage between academic institutions and industries in Tamaulipas.

ISLANDSCHOLAR
A DATABASE OF PUBLICATIONS BY UPEI FACULTY

 We asked Dawn Hooper at the UPEI Roberstson Library, the following question:
Just to understand better: Is IslandScholar for the whole UPEI faculty or can it be set up to be "department" specific? The way I use it is that when I get there I just scroll down to the faculty member's name and once selected then all his/her publications show up. Please explain how version 1 or version 2 is supposed to work.

Answer:
Island Scholar is a database of publications by UPEI faculty from all departments. Library staff add citations for the publications. Then the appropriate full text version of an article, i.e., pre-print or post-print or publisher pdf according to the author's agreement with the publisher, may be added to the citation by the faculty member or the Library. We plan to start adding citations for UPEI theses as well.

There are three options for searching IslandScholar from the home screen:
1) Use the Search Box to search by title, text or keyword, author, or journal title, similar to any database search.

2) Browse by UPEI faculty name
We have linked each faculty member's publications to the faculty username, so all articles should display, independent of author entries using first name or initials.

3) Browse by department
Select a specific department to view all the publications in IslandScholar for that department. In this first version of IslandScholar, you will see additional names from other departments as well. These are co-authors of the articles. This department faculty list has been adjusted to display only faculty names for that department in the second version of IslandScholar, scheduled to be released in March.

The purpose of IslandScholar is to promote faculty publications. This database of citations is "open" for anyone to search.

For more information please contact Dawn Hooper (at 566-0453 or dhooper@upei.ca)

Recent Publications

Stewart-Clark S, Siah A, Greenwood SJ, Davidson J, Berthe F. 2009. Development of 18S rDNA and COI gene primers for the identification of invasive tunicate species in Prince Edward Island. Aquatic Invasions, 4: 575-580.

Clancey N, Burton S, Horney S, MacKenzie A, Nicastro A, Cote E. Effects of in vitro hemodilution of canine blood on platelet function analysis using the PFA-100. Vet Clin Pathol 2009; 38: 467-470

Abstracts and Poster Presentations

Godard D, Park BJ, Groman DB, Hansen M and Palace VP. Pathological Assessment of Explosive Based Instantaneous Pressure Changes (IPC) in Fish.  Presented at the 63rd Canadian Conference for Fisheries Research, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. January 7-9, 2010.

Upcoming Events

The “Prato Conference on the Pathogenesis of Bacterial Diseases of Animals”  Monash Prato Campus, Prato Italy October 6-9, 2010.  For further information please visit the official  web site.

Important Deadlines

 1.  Applications for Clinical Pathology Tenure-Track position: Sunday January 31, 2010.

 2.  Applications for Residency/MVSc Training in Wildlife Pathology: March 31, 2010.

 3.  Proposals to PEI Innovation Discovery & Development Fund:
      (a) ORD Administrative Approval Form sign off: Wednesday, January 27, 2010;
      (b) Funder deadline: 5:00 pm, Friday, January 29, 2010. 

 4.  Proposals to 2010 AVC Research Fund: 5:00 pm, Monday, February 1, 2010.

 5.  Proposals to 2010 Companion Animal Trust Fund: 5:00 pm, Monday, February 1, 2010.

 6.  Applications for AVC equipment or facility alterations or renovations: February 10, 2010.

 7.  Proposals for Pfizer Grant for Innovation in Teaching Methodology: March 15, 2010.

 8.  Nominations for Professor Emeritus: Monday, February 1, 2010.

 9.  Nominations for Hessian Merit Awards for Excellence in Teaching: February 8, 2010.

10. Complete files for Merit Awards for Scholarly Achievement: Monday, March 8, 2010.

Back to Newsletters

Back to Main Menu Pathology Microbiology

September 2009 Issue

October 2009 Issue

November 2009 issue

December 2009 Issue