Note from the PHRN leader - Poultry Health Research Network

March 2014 06/11/2013 Note from the PHRN leader Since the last PHRN update, we managed to survive one of our harshest winters and spring is now just around the corner! However, despite the harsh winter, our Network was not hibernating and in fact, it made significant progress towards its objectives. I have listed some of our accomplishments and future plans below. As always, I would appreciate and welcome your comments. Progress to date: •
The Poultry Industry Council in collaboration with the PHRN submitted an application to the Agricultural Adaptation Council for Capacity Building as a part of the Growing Forward 2 program. This application was entitled: “To create the Poultry Health Research Network (PHRN) for Ontario”. I am delighted to tell you that the
project has been funded! This funding will place the PIC in a very good position to apply for the next phase of the
project, i.e. Implementation. •
On behalf of the PHRN, I have submitted a notification of intent to the Ontario Research Fund-­‐Research Excellence (ORF-­‐RE) program. This funding envelope “provides research institutions with funding to help support the operational costs of large-­‐scale transformative research of strategic value to the province”. Our requested budget was $3.75 million and projects are funded using a 1:1:1 (Ontario government, institution, industry partners) co-­‐funding formula. The external deadline for submission of our full proposal is July 2014, while the internal deadline is June 2014. I will contact some of you shortly for your help with crafting the full proposal. •
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Department of Pathobiology, OVC, had received a large donation and Pathobiology faculty recently voted in favor of directing a part of this donation to aid the PHRN achieve its objectives. I am very grateful to the donor and to my colleagues for giving us the opportunity to grow and promote our network. Our plan is to use these funds to recruit a research coordinator for the PHRN who will play a key role in promoting the PHRN and will also interface with the PIC and the rest of the industry, government and academic institutions. Karen Mantel and Jane Dawkins (OVC Communications and Marketing Officers) have been hard at work and have made a great deal of progress with creating our promotional materials. The promotional pieces they have created include an eight-­‐page color brochure, an information card, a brochure highlighting our researchers, a promotional slide to be used by all our members in their national or international seminars, and pop up posters for industry events. And finally, YES, we do now have a logo! Please see attached a copy of the brochure. Several PHRN members received funding from the CPRC-­‐AAFC Cluster. These included Drs. Guerin, Widowski, Harlander, Van Heyst, Nagy, Prescott and Sharif. Our members received a total of $3.3 million in this competition which was over 60% of the total amount of funding for the national Poultry Cluster. The Poultry Cluster funding announcement was recently made by The Honorable Gerry Ritz (federal Minister of Agriculture). The event was held at the Kay House (PIC). The PHRN was well represented at this event and we used the occasion to promote our Network. Please see: http://en.engormix.com/MA-­‐poultry-­‐industry/health/news/university-­‐guelph-­‐key-­‐player-­‐t19139/165-­‐p0.htm P a g e | 1 March 2014 06/11/2013 •
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http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/31587/university-­‐of-­‐guelph-­‐key-­‐player-­‐in-­‐canadian-­‐poultry-­‐
research http://www.worldpoultry.net/Broilers/General/2014/2/Canadian-­‐research-­‐keeps-­‐poultry-­‐industry-­‐competitive-­‐
1470261W/ We have begun discussions with Professor Mohamed Shakal, University of Cairo, Egypt, for the Establishment of the Center for Poultry Vaccines and Biologics. Prof. Shakal will be visiting Guelph in July 2014 for continuing discussions and he has extended an invitation to the PHRN for a visit to Cairo in 2014 or early 2015. These exchange visits will be supported by the International Development Research Center (IDRC). An ad hoc committee was recently struck with the mandate of developing plans for educational opportunities for students interested in poultry. Members of this committee include Rob Kozak (post-­‐doctoral fellow, Dr. Nagy Lab), Kayla Price (PhD candidate, Dr. Barta lab) and Neda Barjesteh (PhD student, Dr. Sharif lab).This committee will work closely with the PIC . Department of Pathobiology recently hosted 4 candidates who interviewed for the Avian Health and Disease tenure-­‐track faculty position. The incumbent will play an important role as a part of the PHRN. •
Preparations are now under way for the International Avian Immunology conference (AIRG) in Guelph (July 16-­‐
19, 2014). Registration is now open and early bird registration is available until the end of March 2014. Please see the link: http://airg2014.drupalgardens.com/ •
As a minor technical note, the PHRN website had to get a facelift to comply with the new accessibility requirements. Future plans •
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As some of you might know, the European Union has initiated a program called Horizon 2020. This is a multi-­‐year program with a budget of over 80 billion Euros. Importantly, some of the programs are open to Canadians. I am now working with Dr. Sherri Cox (Executive Director, Global Development, Innovation and Research) to see how best we can position the PHRN to interact with some of the European research consortia interested in poultry research. I will communicate more information with you in the next short while. We will work with the PIC to submit an application to OMAF-­‐KTT in support of PHRN activities. The PIC Research day is scheduled for May 6, 2014. The day will be devoted to student presentations. Please mark the day on your calendars. Please send me an email if you have research stories that you want the rest of the world to know! We have done a few of these and hope to do more…. Finally, please check our website (www.uoguelph.ca/phrn) on a regular basis. Thank you, Shayan Sharif P a g e | 2