Animal Diseases in Translational Research: June 17	Print Issue
May 12, 2009, Volume 55, No. 33

To honor its history, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine will celebrate the 125th Anniversary year with a research symposium on Wednesday, June 17, 2009 to focus attention on the School’s accomplishments and contributions to research on animal diseases in biomedicine. 

The day-long event, Animal Diseases in Translational Research,  will highlight contributions of research on animal diseases, that have, or may, facilitate translation from bench-to-bedside or cage-to-stall. Presentations will focus on naturally occurring animal diseases in the domestic animal species, including both captive and clinical populations.  There will be studies presented on clinical diseases applicable to advance medical research for all species. 

For more information, please visit  www.vet.upenn.edu. Those interested in attending may register at www.vet.upenn.edu/2009symposium. The symposium will take place at BRB II/III Auditorium and lobby. 

Speakers will include Penn Vet’s Dr. Gustavo Aguirre (From gene discovery to treatment in canine models of human blindness); Dr. Steven Walkley, Albert Einstein College of Medicine (The Pathobiology of Lysosomal Disease in Large Animal Models); Dr. Francis Golder, Penn Vet (Phrenic motorneuron facilitation and potential translation to spinal cord injuries); Dr. Andrew Lackner, Tulane University (Non-human primate models of neuroAIDS); Dr. Thomas Parsons, Penn Vet (Temporal coding by the chick auditory nerve: Implications for human cochlear prostheses?); Dr. Dennis D. Hickstein, Center for Cancer Research, NCI/NIH (Gene therapy for leukocyte adhesion deficiency—the road from Irish Setters to children); Dr. Dorothy Cimino Brown, Penn Vet (Translational potential of clinical trials in animal patient populations); Dr. Randall S. Prather, University of Missouri and the National Swine Resource and Research Center (Transgenic and cloned pig models of cystic fibrosis and other diseases); Dr. Kurt D. Hankenson, Penn Vet (The potential for skeletal regeneration using mesenchymal stem cell-based therapy); Dr. Margaret M. Sleeper, Penn Vet (Canine familial dilated cardiomyopathy and potential treatment approaches); and Dr. Rainer Storb, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Dog models for organ transplantation and gene therapy of muscular dystrophies). 

The anniversary symposium is co-sponsored by the Walter Flato Goodman Center for Comparative Medical Genetics; Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics (ITMAT); and training programs in comparative medical and molecular genetics and gene therapy/cystic fibrosis and genetic diseases.