Whilst summer is often seen as a quieter time in the world of higher education, research at Bristol Veterinary School tells a different story. Success was achieved across all five research communities this summer. One of the major highlights was Ian Cadby’s £1 million grant from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for a project on tick-borne anaplasma.
2024: Ian Cadby research award | Bristol Veterinary School | University of Bristol

Other achievements included five grants for the Infection, Inflammation and Immunotherapy (I3) community, a publication on equine sports medicine ethics, and a ‘Brain Box’ stall at Glastonbury for members of the Animal Welfare and Behaviour community.

Infection, Inflammation and Immunotherapy

Shahriar Behboudi, Professor in Correlates of Immune Protection, was awarded a grant by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Impact Accelerator Account (BBSRI IAA) who offered Shahriar just shy of half a million pounds to support with creating a novel platform for producing a cell-free third generation Marek’s disease virus vaccine. Marek’s disease is a highly contagious virus in chickens, causing tumours in organs and the nervous system, and is a major concern in poultry worldwide.

Sion Bayliss, Lecturer in Endemic, Enzootic and Emerging Infectious Diseases, secured two grants. The first was from the Leverhulme Full Grant Project to co-lead work into solving the Pangenome Paradox which looks at the complete set of genes within a species including both the “core genes” (genes shared by all individuals) and the “accessory genome” (genes present in some but not all individuals).

The second grant awarded to Sion was part of the Energy and Biosciences Institute (EBI) International Research Partnership Awards. Sion will use the funds to use nanopore sequencing for rapid antimicrobial resistance profiling of non-typhodial Salmonella in South Africa.

Karen Mifsud, Lecturer in Behavioural Genetics, was also awarded funding which is focused upon improving the way we measure a special substance called hyaluronan in the brain of mammals. Funding for this was awarded by The Physiological Society.

In addition to success in the form of grants, the I3 community has also celebrated multiple publications. Emily Milodowski, Clinical Research Fellow, and Linda Wooldridge, Chair in Translational Immunology, had a paper published on their research into the variations in side effects experienced by individuals after receiving the mRNA Covid-19 vaccination.
Hybrid adaptive immunity to SARS-CoV-2 protects against breakthrough infection after COVID-19 vaccination in ALSPAC participants | medRxiv

Paul Wigley, Professor in Animal Microbial Systems, celebrated a publication for his paper on how epigenetic factors, modifications to DNA that do not change the genetic sequence but can affect gene expression, influence the immune response of house sparrows, particularly in relation to Salmonella. 
High epigenetic potential protects songbirds against pathogenic Salmonella enterica infection - PubMed (nih.gov)

Paul had another paper published which explores the impact of early microbiome manipulation in chicks to reduce Salmonella infections.
Timing and delivery route effects of cecal microbiome transplants on Salmonella Typhimurium infections in chickens: potential for in-hatchery delivery of microbial interventions - PubMed (nih.gov)

Did you know?
Bristol Veterinary School researchers are involved in a myriad of activities and events across the University. From the 16th-18th May, Sion Bayliss organised the Genome Science 2024 conference at Bristol’s Chemistry School, hosting over 200 attendees from 70 institutions, including individuals specialising in a wide range of disciplines.

One Health Approaches to Antimicrobial Resistance

Judy Bettridge, Senior Research Associate, was a successful recipient of the Elizabeth Blackwell International Research Partnership Award. This award will be put towards developing the Kenyan community One Health guidelines for antimicrobial prescribing.

Did you know?
Members of the One Health Approaches to Antimicrobial Resistance Community are being recognised for their outstanding contributions to research. Alex Tasker, Senior Lecturer, has been accepted to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Public Health and the Fellowship of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Similarly, Sion Bayliss has been made an Honorary Fellow at Cardiff University. Congratulations to both!

Clinical Research

When it comes to the ethics of equine sports medicine, there can be no doubt that this is an area that is currently understudied. That is why the research conducted by Kate Allen, Associate Professor in Equine Sports Medicine, looking into the ethical issues concerning UK veterinary surgeons practice in equine sports medicine is vital. Kate recently celebrated a publication of a paper which examined the ethical issues around balancing a horse’s health and welfare with client wishes for the horse to continue training and competing.
Ethical issues concerning UK veterinary surgeons practicing in equine sports medicine. — University of Bristol

Did you know?
PhD students from Bristol Veterinary School regularly attend conferences across the globe to present their research findings. This month, the 34^th ECVIM Annual Congress took place in Lyon where PhD student Marco Mazzarella presented an abstract on his PhD project.

Animal Welfare and Behaviour

Congratulations to Daniel Enriquez-Hidalgo, Emily Blackwell, Jo Edgar, Michael Mendl, Liz Paul, Suzanne Held, Vikki Neville, Carole Fureix and Ben Lecorps in receiving grants to work on their projects, which include:

• Co-creating equitable circular food systems through a digital Hub: Digital Equitable CIrcular FooD systEms (Daniel Enriquez-Hidalgo, Senior Lecturer).
• Development of objective methods to quantify reward learning impairments: a 'cognitive biomarker' of affective state in different species (Emily Blackwell, Senior Lecturer, Jo Edgar, Senior Lecturer, Michael Mendl, Professor in Animal Welfare and Behaviour, Liz Paul, Senior Research Fellow and Michael Mendl).
• An Evolutionary View to Understanding Affective States across Species (Affect-Evo) (Suzanne Held, Associate Professor in Behavioural Biology and Animal Welfare, Carole Fureix, Lecturer in Behavioural Physiology, Ben Lecorps, Lecturer, Vikki Neville, Research Fellow and Proleptic Lecturer, Michael Mendl and Liz Paul).
• If you were a laboratory rodent, what would you fancy doing at home? An experiential activity to foster people’s curiosity about housing refinements for laboratory mice and rats (Carole Fureix).

Nicola Rooney, Senior Lecturer in Wildlife and Conservation, and Michael Mendl have been involved in two publications. The first paper explains how the odour of an unfamiliar stressed or relaxed person affects dogs’ responses to a cognitive bias test. PhD student Zoe Parre-Cortes was also heavily involved in this publication, as was Laszlo Talas, Lecturer in Animal Sensing and Biometrics. The second paper analysed whether or not it is ethical to farm non-typical sentient species by proposing a decision-making framework to decide whether species that are local, but generally not used as livestock, should be farmed. Suzanne Held, Associate Professor in Behavioural Biology and Animal Welfare, was also involved in this paper.
The odour of an unfamiliar stressed or relaxed person affects dogs’ responses to a cognitive bias test — University of Bristol
Farming non-typical sentient species: ethical framework requires passing a high bar — University of Bristol

Bristol Veterinary School’s Animal Welfare and Behaviour community has celebrated three further publications:

• Marco Ramirez Montes de Oca, Senior Research Associate, Carole Fureix and Michael Mendl published a paper entitled ‘Measuring affect-related attention bias to emotionally valenced visual stimuli in horses’. Measuring affect-related attention bias to emotionally valenced visual stimuli in horses — University of Bristol
• Michael Mendl was also involved in a paper looking at cold therapy and pain relief after hot-iron disbudding in dairy calves. Kane Colston, PhD student, and Ben Lecorps were also involved in this publication. Cold therapy and pain relief after hot-iron disbudding in dairy calves — University of Bristol
• Michael Mendl celebrated the publication of another paper alongside colleagues Molly Davidson, Research Associate, Vikki Neville and Liz Paul. This paper was entitled ‘You are How You Eat: Foraging Behaviour as a Potential Novel Marker of Rat Affective State. You are How You Eat: Foraging Behavior as a Potential Novel Marker of Rat Affective State — University of Bristol

Success also came for Jillian Hendricks, PhD student, who co-published a paper describing the views of experts working in agricultural genetics and explaining how best to communicate genetic technology with a broader audience.
Expert views on communicating genetic technology used in agriculture — University of Bristol

Finally, Ella Bartlett, PhD student, Emily Blackwell, Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour and Welfare and Jo Hockenhull, Honorary Research Fellow, have been involved in investigating how horse owners’ attributes relate to the methods they choose for training horses.
Exploring the relationship between horse-owner attributes and their approach to horse training — University of Bristol

Did you know?
Bristol Veterinary School had a presence at Glastonbury Festival 2024! Nick Cherbanich, Graduate Teacher, ran an education stall called ‘Brain Box’ with a few neuroscience PhD students. Designed and run entirely by South West Biosciences Doctoral Training Partnership (SWBio DTP) students, the ‘Brain Box’ stall offered an immersive educational experience, delving into the mysteries of the brain. The aim of the stall was to highlight the beauty and complexity of the brain through games, artwork and brain teasers.

Veterinary Education

In July, around 12 members of the team went to the VetEd Symposium at University College Dublin, where many of them presented their excellent work. The Symposium provided an opportunity for the participants from various countries to share ideas, innovations, research and best practice in veterinary education. Delegates included veterinary educationalists, clinicians, academics, veterinary students, practitioners and researchers.

Did you know?
Have you heard of flipped classrooms? It is a type of blended learning whereby students are introduced to learning material before class and classroom time is then used to deepen understanding. The main benefits of this approach are that it makes students more prepared and confident, less anxious and able to make better use of in-class time to focus on learning skills.

Sarah Baillie, Emeritus Professor, Abi Miles, Lecturer, Alison Catterall, Specialist Technician, Louisa Mitchard, Specialist Technician, and Sam Brown, Specialist Technician shared their experiences in adopting a flipped classroom approach to support student learning in this recent publication:
Embedding the flipped classroom approach to support student learning in animal handling and clinical skills practical classes throughout a veterinary curriculum — University of Bristol