The Animal Health Industry achieved more than $2billion global sales in 2004. Vaccines made up a quarter of the market alone and this sector is growing at 3 times the rate of pharmaceuticals. Increased demands for products is being driven by market demand, including threats such as avian flu, heightened public concern about the food chain, parasite resistance and the availability of improved technology.
This workshop aims to illustrate how three research institutes, Moredun, Roslin and the Institute for Animal Health are responding with research targeted at new product delivery and collaboration with industry. Additionally, access to seed capital and business skills (Genecom), combined with incubator and start-up facilities at Roslin BioCentre and Pentlands Science Park provides encouragement and incentives for start-ups and spin-outs in collaboration with the three institutes.
Dr Harry Griffin, Director of Roslin Institute will describe how new and effective animal disease control mechanisms can make use of the rapidly increasing knowledge and information in genetics and genomics to increase understanding of host-pathogen/parasite interactions. This improved understanding provides new opportunities for diagnosis, intervention and breeding of animals for resistance. Combining new technologies with traditional disease control measures allows more effective and sustainable disease control strategies.
The Deputy Director of Moredun, Professor Willie Donachie, will provide an overview of the work of this world-renowned institute as well as highlighting some of his personal successes in the commercialization of his science.
Dr Mark Dagleish, Moredun Research Institute will describe how RecSpec™, a Moredun discovery, could contribute to the diagnosis of scrapie in sheep, the most common form of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in sheep and goats.
Collaboration with industry is also a key objective for the Institutes and the case study of EctoPharma will ably demonstrate this. The company has patented technology for the pesticide and insecticide markets and were linked with Moredun by Genecom to undertake an efficacy study in the control of poultry mites. Magnus Nicolson, CEO EctoPharma, will review the project and the value of the collaboration.
|
