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Science provides clues to origins and evolution of zoonotics

Zoonotic diseases have been infecting people for a long time. European researchers recently found the genome of a brucellosis-causing bacterium in a 700-year-old human skeleton in Italy, Science World...

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Farmers benefit and suffer from legacy breed protection programs

In a story as old as farming itself, livestock breeds regularly come to be and cease to exist in the ongoing quest to feed more people. It’s not that extinction of any breed is the desired outcome, nor...

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University of Alberta to honour beef researcher

Next week the University of Alberta is honouring Dr. Roy Berg, a man who changed Alberta’s cattle industry, by re-naming the Kinsella Ranch after him. Berg conducted research at the ranch from 1960 to...

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Saving heritage breeds preserves valuable traits and culture

Early in June, I booked into a bed and breakfast near Ravenscrag, Saskatchewan to work on a new writing project. The journey there ended up being a little more dramatic than I wanted – my Chevy Tracker...

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Preliminary results promising in beef genomics project

Alberta researchers are starting to get some promising results back from a five year study aiming to improve molecular breeding values and show how genomics can be used by beef producers to make better...

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Cheeseburgers and Cowspiracy: putting livestock and climate change in...

Why, yes, this is a blog dedicated to livestock genetics and as odd as it may sound, this story does indeed involve some livestock gene manipulation. But let’s put first things first here at the...

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Musings on Agricultural Biotechnology and a New Gig

Whether you’re choosing a breakfast cereal or sowing the seeds that go into it, you are touched by science, and specifically biotechnology. Besides being responsible for synthetic insulin and chymosin...

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The New Debate: Gene Editing vs Genetic Modification

Government food safety agencies in many countries are hesitant to approve genetically modified organisms (GMOs) for human consumption. In some cases that hesitancy centers on scientific questions but...

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Biotechnology and the Risky Art of Being Unnatural

Everything we do carries risk. The clothes we wear are synthetic. The food we eat is unnatural. Yet, we thrive. Genetic engineering, first attempted in the late 20th century, is a process of altering...

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Cattle Code Cracked in Detail

Media Release, Aarhus University, October 3, 2014. The cattle genome has now been mapped to a hitherto unknown degree of detail, constituting a quantum leap for research into the history and genetics...

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Baboon Genes to Combat Trypanosomiasis in African Cattle

Genetic engineering could go beyond shrinking or eliminating horns in cattle. It could be the much-needed antidote to one of Africa’s greatest zoonotic diseases. Roughly 22% of cattle in Africa die...

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Milking it: Genomics is Taking the Guesswork out of Dairy Production

Media Release, October 9, 2014. A new research program, funded in part by Genome British Columbia, aims to help BC’s dairy farmers by taking the guesswork out of determining which young heifers will...

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Pigging Out: New Research Could Increase Efficiency in Pork Industry

Recently announced funding from the federal government could support the development and commercialization of enzymes to improve feed efficiency in the pork sector. Canada’s hog industry brings in $9.8...

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Circle of Life: Livestock virus necessary for human Ebola vaccine might...

The Ebola epidemic is scary and every effort is being made to squelch its spread. Among those efforts is the search for a human vaccine. One of the most promising vaccines under development requires...

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Time to Rotate: Increasing the Sustainability of Biotech Traits

How can a technology that has so quickly degraded in field conditions possibly be considered sustainable? It’s a hard word to grasp, though its definition is relatively straightforward. Sustainability...

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Taking the Mystery out of Genomics

I gave my mom a hand feeding the cows yesterday and as we waited for the stragglers to arrive before rolling out grain, we started talking about genetics, and the pros and cons of bringing in another...

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Ongoing work to eradicate scrapie a light in the tunnel of TSEs

I’ve had quite a few conversations in the last few weeks about the science behind transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) such as mad cow and chronic wasting disease, but it wasn’t until a...

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Zombie prions and the fight to slay their diseases

Until recently science thought all infectious diseases in animals and humans were caused by living organisms, namely bacteria, viruses and fungi. In other words, infectious disease was caused by a...

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Biotech Shorties from Filipino Film Makers

Drum roll please ... because the winner of the Biotech Shorties contest in the Philippines have been announced. The ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications) and...

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Cattle Quarantined in Montana After Brucellosis Case Confirmed

On Friday, Montana state officials announced that a few thousand head of cattle had been quarantined, as a cow near the border of Yellowstone National Park has tested positive for brucellosis....

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