AAVMC award recipients

The Association of American Veterinary Colleges (AAVMC) has announced its four annual award recipients for professional excellence and achievement in academic veterinary medicine. Dr. Edward B. Breitschwerdt will receive the AAVMC Excellence in Research Award. Breitschwerdt is the director of the Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory in the Comparative Medicine Institute at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Allen Cannedy, also of NC State CVM, will receive the Iverson Bell Award for his work promoting under-represented veterinary students. Dr. Steven L. Stockham from Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine will receive the AAVMC Distinguished Teacher Award. And Dr. Francisco J. Trigo Tavera, vice provost for international affairs at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, will receive the Billy E. Hooper Award for Distinguished Service for his work in founding the Mexican Society of Veterinary Pathologists and advancing accreditation systems in Mexico and Latin America.

The awards will be presented at the AAVMC 2017 Annual Conference and Iverson Bell Symposium to be held in March.

New microbiome director at JAX

Dr. Mark Adams has been appointed director of Microbial Genomic Services at the Jackson Laboratory. Charles Lee, scientific director of JAX Genomic Medicine, commented, “The microbiome impacts all aspects of genomic medicine, and is one of the most exciting and expansive areas of research today. I'm thrilled that Mark has joined JAX to help us further our position as a champion of microbiome discovery.”

Adams received his Ph.D in biological chemistry from the University of Michigan. He was the scientific founder of The Institute for Genomic Research and co-founder of Celera Genomics, where he was involved with various genome sequencing projects. He also researched antibiotic resistance as associate professor of genetics at Case Western Reserve University. Prior to joining JAX, he was the scientific director and a professor at the J. Craig Venter Institute.

ZeClinics receives EU funding

Zebrafish drug discovery company ZeClinics has received a € 1.87 million grant from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program to fund further development and commercialization of their ZeCardio product. ZeCardio is an automated, high-throughput cardiotoxicity screening platform that analyzes physiological parameters of the heart and vascular system in zebrafish embryos. The project for the initial software and prototype, ZeGlobalTox, received funding through the NC3R's CRACK IT Solutions scheme in 2015. ZeClinics was awarded £30,000 from CRACK IT and partnered with Noldus and Pivot Park Screening Centre to validate and automate the platform and improve its imaging and analysis capabilities.

A model organism database from FASEB

The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) has created an online database of model organisms from US providers. At its launch in December 2016, the database contained over 120 entries and includes models from bacteria and algae to invertebrates and fish to rodents, nonhuman primates, and other mammals. Investigators can search for and request living orgasms, tissues, and related biological products from academic, nonprofit, government, and commercial providers. Interested providers can contact FASEB to be included.

Therapeutic Hep B collaboration

GeoVax Labs, Inc. has announced a collaboration with researchers at Georgia State University to develop a therapeutic hepatitus B vaccine. GeoVax's MVA-VLP vaccine platform will be used to design, construct, characterize, and complete animal testing of vaccine candidates. Georgia State University researchers, in further collaboration with the Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University, will complete additional characterization and conduct mouse immunogenicity studies. The collaboration will take advantage of functional assays developed by Dr. Ming Luo.

Careers update

David Hutto, DVM, PhD, DACVP has joined digital vivarium company Vium as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO). Previously CSO of Safety Assessment, Veterinary Services, and Animal Welfare at Charles River Laboratories, Hutto will be responsible for Vium's scientific and organizational strategic growth plans and its vivarium operations. He commented in a press release, “I'm very impressed with what Vium has accomplished in such a short period of time, and I believe its services—which are transforming how animal research is done—will become essential to all companies in drug R&D.” A veterinarian with a PhD in immunology, he also has specialty board certifications in pathology and toxicology. Prior to joining Charles River, he was the Global Head of Drug Safety at Japanese biopharmaceutical company Eisai.