Chelsea Carruthers, a graduate student from the University of Saskatchewan will lead off the technical speakers with a report on genetic research. The title of her presentation is “Genetic Diversity in Angus Cattle.” Chelsea completed her research on embryo calves born at the Remington Cattle Company ranch from embryos donated from nine countries. Genetic diversity is a hot topic in livestock production due to concerns that selective breeding and reproductive biotechnology may threaten variability. This study used two types of genetic polymorphisms to investigate diversity within the Angus breed internationally, and to determine whether variability is being affected by selection.
Chelsey grew up on a commercial Angus cow-calf operation near Biggar, Saskatchewan. She completed her BSA in Animal Science at the University of Saskatchewan in the spring of 2007 and is currently pursuing her M.Sc. under the supervision of Dr. Sheila Schmutz in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science. She is evaluating genetic diversity in Angus cattle. Chelsey looks forward to a career in the livestock industry in western Canada.
Our second speaker will be Dr. Jerry Taylor who holds the chair in animal genomics at the University of Missouri. He will be speaking on “Prospects for Genome-Wide Selection in Beef Cattle.” Dr. Taylor has assembled DNA samples and phenotypes on over 18,000 beef animals, primarily Angus. His research focuses on the identification of mutations responsible for phenotypic variation in growth, carcass, composition, feed efficiency and milk production.
Dr. Taylor was born in England, grew up in Australia and has lived in the United States for over 20 years. Dr. Taylor has been a professor for 24 years. The last six years have been spent in the Division of Animal Sciences at the University of Missouri. Dr. Taylor is currently working with colleagues at the United States Department of Agriculture to put the finishing touches on a tool that will make it possible to genotype cattle and predict important genetic traits such as meat quality, feed efficiency and disease resistance. He says the cattle industry will be using this new technology in the next 12 months to predict the genetic merit of animals.
The final and keynote speaker will be Dr. Robert (Bob) Church, a pioneer of molecular genetics and embryo transfer technology in cattle. Dr. Church’s topic is “Healthy Animals/Healthy People: Using all the Genomic Information Available”.
Dr. Church is an internationally known leader and expert in transferring the technologies of genetics, reproductive physiology and molecular biology to the agricultural and biotechnology industries. Serving in a scientific advisory capacity to numerous biotechnology projects, he has been personally involved in the establishment of 11 new high technology companies in Alberta, the United States, New Zealand and Australia. Dr. Church has been active in the livestock industry through involvement on various committees in the development of breed organizations, sire and dam evaluation, genetic defect testing and breed development. In addition to his contributions as a scientist and administrator, Dr. Church has authored over 100 scientific publications in animal genetics and biotechnology. He has received many awards and honours. In 1991, Dr. Church was inducted in the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame for his work in the area of cattle genetics.
JULY 14 Luncheon Presentation
Vaccination of the Newborn Calf; A Novel Approach to Disease Control
Philip Griebel, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Program Manager and Senior Immunologist, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), Professor, School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan
Professional background at a glance
Specialty: , Mucosal Immunology
Hometown: Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
VIDO areas of responsibility:
Program manager: Pathogenomics of Innate Mucosal Immunity
Coordinator: Mucosal Immunity
Member: Science Management Team
Member: Prion Diseases; Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis Project; Immune Modulation Using CpG Motifs; Neonatal Vaccines; VIDO Beef Technical Group
Education and certifications:
Ph.D.: Department of Veterinary Microbiology, University of Saskatchewan, 1988
D.V.M.: Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, 1981
Relevant experience:
Identified novel method of fetal immunization through oral delivery of DNA vaccines. Subsequent investigations confirmed oral fetal immunization induced protective immunity in the newborn.
Member of the VIDO team that developed a novel model for the analyses of mucosal immune responses in the small intestine of ruminants. This model system is now being used at VIDO to investigate host responses (sheep, cattle and chicken) to viral and bacterial intestinal pathogens.
Developed a novel culture system for ruminant B cells, crucial to healthy immune responses, that supports study of the control, activation and differentiation of mucosal B cells.
Actively involved in the characterization of the vaccine adjuvants
Maintains a strong interest in the transfer of knowledge gained from immunological research to relevant clinical applications.