Nexxus Scotland

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow 

The Glasgow Veterinary College was founded in 1862 and incorporated into the University of Glasgow in 1949. The Veterinary Hospital and School buildings are situated on Garscube Estate, four miles north-west of the main University campus. Veterinary Medicine was awarded an ‘excellent' award for the quality of teaching in the latest Quality Assessment Results, and the research output of the faculty was also independently rated as 5 in the last research assessment exercise (RAE), demonstrating the outstanding international reputation of its research.

The Veterinary School has also gained the prized American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA) accreditation - one of only three schools in Europe to receive AVMA recognition. In 2006 this was renewed for a further period of seven years endorsing the academic, research and teaching excellence of the Faculty.

Research and Collaboration

The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow offers a range of opportunities for industry wishing to benefit from its research activities. In addition, the University of Glasgow presents a professional and efficient interface for all commercial transactions. Opportunities currently exist in the following areas:

• exploitation of intellectual property (IP) through licensing and other commercialisation routes;
• collaborative Research in veterinary medicine, biomedical and interdisciplinary areas;
• provision of technical services and consultancy;
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training and short courses.

The Institute of Comparative Medicine (www.gla.ac.uk/faculties/vet)

The Institute has been established as the research entity of the faculty to promote an integrated approach to research strategy and planning. The Institute has a strong and diverse research profile, much of which is directed towards the fundamental problems common to veterinary and medical diseases.

Division of Animal Production & Public Health

Professor David Taylor (D.Taylor@vet.gla.ac.uk)

Comparative Epidemiology and Informatics provides the environment for clinical researchers, epidemiologists, statisticians and information and computing scientists to apply their combined strengths to the quantitative assessment of disease risk, disease modelling and development of decision  support systems. Production medicine is focused on identifying the major genetic and immunogenetic determinants of resistance and susceptibility to disease and on product quality in production animals.

Built around the AVMA-accredited centre of clinical excellence there is an Evidence-Based Medicine & Diagnostics group allowing clinician-researchers, as well as diagnostic researchers from clinical and pathology backgrounds, to develop evidence-based medicine. The research is directed at the analysis of retrospective case series, casebased investigations, prospective clinical studies and the development of novel platforms, software and reagents for diagnostic instrumentation as well as the production of commercial diagnostic kits and instruments. An example is the development of methods for the detection of acute phase protein as a marker of inflammation.

Division of Cell Sciences

Professor P O'Shaughnessy (P.J.OShaughnessy@vet.gla.ac.uk)

This division has a Neuroscience research group directed at two main themes, myelination and the canine neurological disorder, chronic degenerative radiculomyelopathy (CDRM). The work on myelination focuses on the role of the major myelin proteolipid protein (PLP) gene in normal and diseased tissue and on using spontaneous mutations to reveal important aspects of myelination. This work has led to the recognition that PLP is essential to maintain axonal integrity in man and mouse. The work with CDRM is directed at identifying candidate causal genes. The nature and distribution of pathology is very similar to certain of the human hereditary spastic paraplegias, thus allowing a search for the canine orthologues of the causal genes.

The Reproductive Biology Research group is aimed primarily at study of the development and function of the hypothalamicgonadal axis and its constituent parts. Studies on the gonads are focused on two areas: control mechanisms regulating fetal and pubertal development using transgenic and mutant mouse models which lack specific hormones or receptors; and mechanisms of dominant follicle selection in the ruminant ovary. Interactions between the hypothalamus and the gonads are a second focus of this group and are primarily concerned with an understanding of the mechanisms by which gonadal steroids regulate hypothalamic-pituitary function.

Division of Companion Animal Sciences

Dr Jim Anderson (T.J.Anderson@vet.gla.ac.uk)

Research within this division develops hospital-based clinical research and evidence-based medicine focusing on cats, dogs and horses as companion animals. Research is progressed via collaboration with other research groups within the faculty.

Particular interests are oncology, endocrinology, orthopaedics, gastro-intestinal disease, neurology and equine respiratory disease. There is also translational research focused on the development of gene-based delivery systems and therapies in veterinary target species to target cancer and auto-immune diseases. Current projects include the development of novel virus and DNA vectors for in vivo gene delivery and the characterisation of immunoregulatory cytokines and their potential application as vaccine adjuvants.

Division of Infection & Immunity

Professor E Devaney (E.Devaney@vet.gla.ac.uk)

This division incorporates the Parasitology group which focuses on nematodes and protozoa, using molecular and immunological approaches to gain understanding of their biology, immune evasion and pathogenesis. Fundamental knowledge deriving from these studies is applied to the development of novel chemotherapeutics and vaccines.

Research on nematodes uses the free-living C. elegans as a model to investigate conserved features such as gut development, moulting and the formation of the cuticle. In addition C. elegans is used to analyse the functional roles of key parasite-derived molecules, with potential as vaccine candidates or drug targets. Other projects involve the population biology and drug resistance of parasitic nematodes.

The protozoan research includes parasite genetics, particularly the genetics of drug resistance in trypanosomes, control of parasite proliferation and pathogenesis, and parasite control of host cell proliferation. These themes share a focus on processes fundamental to the growth and survival of parasites and their interaction with the host.

There is also a strong Virology group within this division that has close links with Oncology in the Division of Pathological Sciences, where tumour viruses are a major interest. Research interests include the virus-host interaction, mechanisms of viral entry, the development of novel vaccine strategies, the molecular epidemiology of lentiviruses and the pathogenesis of feline viral diseases (FIV, FeLV, FcoV). Efforts to develop and improve vaccines to these agents remain a high priority.

The Bacteriology group focuses on public health problems arising from food borne pathogens and the need to integrate molecular and more classical approaches to their identification and the study of their pathogenicity. The major focus of the group is the host-pathogen relationship applied to the major zoonotic pathogens, Salmonella, E.coli O157 and Campylobacter. The ultimate aim is to use the information gained from such studies to design more effective vaccines and agents to prevent or treat infections.

Division of Pathological Sciences

Professor R Jarrett (R.Jarrett@vet.gla.ac.uk)

The major research of this division is carried out in the area of Oncology, focusing on the identification and characterisation of viruses as agents of cancer. The work of the LRF Virus Centre is devoted to the study of causal factors in human leukaemia and lymphoma, with particular emphasis on viral involvement and Hodgkin lymphoma. The Papillomavirus Group, which has pioneered the development of vaccines to these oncogenic viruses in both animals and humans, currently focuses on aspects of viral transcriptional control, DNA replication, cell transformation and protective immunity.

These activities are complemented by the Molecular Oncology Laboratory, which is focused on the genetics and biology of haemopoietic malignancy. This work exploits retroviral mutagenesis to identify oncogenes which are targeted in cancer and is developing novel models of human neoplastic disease. Professor Massimo Palmarini has joined the division from the US and is investigating the pathogenesis of the Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus, an agent that causes lung cancer in infected animals.

Welcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology

Professor J D Barry (j.d.barry@bio.gla.ac.uk)

Much of the research within the centre concerns African trypanosomes, microscopic parasites that cause human sleeping sickness and the wasting disease nagana in domestic animals. This parasite is heavily investigated, in part because its lifestyle makes it highly amenable to scientific study, and has been a rich source of discoveries of a fundamental nature in biology. We study aspects of genetics, gene regulation, protein function and cellular function, all within a framework of the trypanosome being a single cell that exists as a discrete organism in complex, and often hostile, environments. Both mammalian and tsetse host features are studied. Projects include: antigenic variation and regulation of transcription in trypanosomes; DNA recombination in trypanosome antigenic variation; genetics and molecular epidemiology of African trypanosomes; life and death of a trypanosome; roles of glycans in trypanosome transmission by tsetse. The centre also studies malaria, caused by parasites of the genus Plasmodium, a major killer in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Two teams investigate Plasmodium, both with the objective of identifying novel drug targets, and aiming to characterise specific enzymes through biochemical and reverse genetics approaches. One team specialises in the parasite's metabolic pathways, and the other studies signalling pathways that regulate parasite development.