Poster competition showcases research

The two-day event gave WCVM graduate students a chance to share and discuss their research and their findings with University of Saskatchewan students, faculty and staff. There were 33 participants in this year's competition.

Participating students answered questions and explained their work to a team of judges who picked three winners in each of the three award categories. Winners took home $200, $150 and $100 bursaries for first, second and third place respectively.

The winners were presented with their awards during a luncheon on March 17, with the exception of the microbiology and immunology category winners who were attending a conference.

Basic sciences:

• First place: Asha Perera, Veterinary Pathology (supervisor: Dr. Catherine Soos, Dr. Karen Machin). Research title: "Birds of a feather stressed together? A tale of sea ducks in a rapidly changing arctic."

• Second place: Sonu Subudhi, Veterinary Microbiology (supervisor: Dr. Vikram Misra). Research title: "Interactions of a coronavirus with its natural host – the Canadian little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus)."

• Third place: Arinjay Banerjee, Veterinary Microbiology (supervisor: Dr. Vikram Misra). Research title: "Big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus) cells do not activate pro-inflammatory genes in response to stimulation with TLR-ligands: A reason for the lack of overt virus-induced pathology in bats?"

Clinical sciences:

• First place: Haley Scott, Large Animal Clinical Sciences (supervisor: Dr. Fabienne Uehlinger). Research title: "Prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes in breeding-age heifers on Canadian dairy farms.

• Second place: Aline Freitas, Veterinary Microbiology (supervisor: Dr. Janet Hill). Research title: "Characterization of vaginal Bifidobacterium: underappreciated members of the healthy microbiome."

• Third place: Stephanie Osinchuk, Small Animal Clinical Sciences (supervisor: Dr. Bruce Grahn). Research title: "Congenital lenticular anomalies in a purebred Holstein dairy herd."

Microbiology and immunology:

• First place: Kalhari Goonewardene, Veterinary Pathology (supervisor: Dr. Susantha Gomis). Research title: "Multiple administrations of oligodeoxynucleotides containing CpG motifs (CpG-ODNs) can enhance immune protection against bacterial infections in neonatal broiler chickens."

• Second place: Ruwani Karunarathna, Veterinary Pathology (supervisor: Dr. Susantha Gomis). Research title: "Multidrug resistant patterns in poultry enteric bacteria isolated from non-viable chicken embryos."

• Third place: Ashish Gupta, Veterinary Pathology (supervisor: Dr. Susantha Gomis). Research title: "Evaluation of fowl adenovirus 8ab capsid proteins for immunogenicity in broiler breeders."

Click here to view a photo gallery of the 2016 award recipients.