WCVM graduate students excel at research expo

The research expo recognizes exemplary research and learning activity at the university and annually showcases the interdisciplinary health science research taking place on campus and throughout the province.

This year’s event, which took place online, was held on May 5. One of the expo’s major honours went to WCVM professor Dr. Elemir Simko (DVM, DVSc), who received the university’s “Best Supervisor” award after being nominated by master’s student Oleksii Obshta — a member of his research team.

While Simko has conducted research in various aspects of comparative pathology, innate immunity, pathogenesis of infectious diseases and evidence-based diagnostic pathology, his research team has gained wide-scale recognition for their recent work in honey bee health and sustainability of agriculture.

Two WCVM-based graduate students also received additional awards in recognition of their research work: 

• Jordan Woodsworth, a PhD candidate in the WCVM’s Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, received the expo’s award for Indigenous health research.
• Hemlata Gautam, a PhD candidate in the WCVM’s Department of Veterinary Pathology, received the expo’s award for interdisciplinary/interprofessional collaboration.

The following list includes the names of all WCVM-based graduate and undergraduate students who received top honours in the research presentation competition.

BASIC SCIENCE 1

First place: Hemlata Gautam.
Supervisor: Dr. Susantha Gomis, Dept. of Veterinary Pathology.
Poster title: “Development of novel immunomodulatory strategies to control necrotic enteritis.”

Based on the quality of Gautam’s research, the PhD student also received the event’s award recognizing interdisciplinary/interprofessional collaboration.

BASIC SCIENCE 2

Second place: Radwa Asar.
Supervisor: Dr. Antonio Ruzzini, Dept. of Veterinary Microbiology.
Poster title: “Biotransformation of bile acids by a common member of bison gut microbiome.” 

BASIC SCIENCE 3

First place: Victoria Gonzalez.
Supervisor: Dr. Arinjay Banerjee, Dept. of Veterinary Microbiology.
Poster title: “Discovering novel antiviral type I interferon responses in bats.”

SOCIAL AND POPULATION HEALTH 1

First place: Jordan Woodsworth.
Supervisor: Tasha Epp, Dept. of Large Animal Clinical Sciences.
Poster title: “Community collaborations in Indigenous dog health research: data collection, analysis and interpretation in a community-oriented case study.”

Based on the quality of Woodsworth’s research, the PhD student also received the event’s award recognizing Indigeneous health research.   

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH 1

Second place: Vanessa Browne, College of Arts and Science (summer undergraduate research was based at the WCVM).
Supervisors: Dr. Adelaine Leung and Maud Ferrari.
Poster title: “Mating induced feeding increase may be regulated by a conserved satiety protein, nucleobindin-1.”

Click here for more information about this event and to see a list of all the winners.