VEE seminar – Revolutionizing diagnostics and real-time genomic epidemiology
This online seminar takes place on 23 April 2021 13:00-14:00 CET and replaces the (physical) annual VEE – workshop.
About the workshop
Infectious diseases cause serious problems in veterinary medicine. However, when a vet wants to make a final diagnosis of the aetiology, the options are limited. A first problem is that the vet has to make a prior selection of which pathogens he wants to have tested. A second problem is that the information he receives to date is inadequate. Information of antigenic / genomic variants of a virus or bacteria are needed to tailor treatment and prevention. A third major problem is the lack of standardization in sampling, which leads to negative and inconclusive diagnostic results because of poor sample quality. As a solution, the novel sample-collection-to-diagnostic-interpretation platform, PathoSense, was developed and launched as a new spin-off from Ghent University in October 2020. In this seminar, recent diagnostic and R&D results will be used to demonstrate the possibilities for infectious diseases monitoring and how it will assist the veterinarians of the future. Real-time monitoring of infectious diseases in animals, including those with a zoonotic potential, will be possible. In an epidemic setting, real-time pathogen genomic surveillance will aid in answering important questions asked during outbreaks.
About the lecturer
The seminar will be given by Dr. Sebastiaan Theuns, co-founder of PathoSense, a spin-off from the Laboratory of Virology (Prof. Nauwynck, Ghent University). In 2010 he graduated as a veterinarian, after which he successfully defended his doctorate in 2015. He then developed expertise in vaccine development during a postdoctoral VLAIO Innovation mandate. Sebastiaan has always showed interest in diagnostics of infectious diseases in different animal species. He saw an enormous opportunity for innovation with the emergence of new DNA / RNA sequencing technologies. Since 2017, his research has led to the development of a complete “sampling-to-diagnostic interpretation” platform for infectious diseases in veterinary medicine, which culminated in the spin-off PathoSense in October 2020. Since then, PathoSense has been used in all animal species by veterinarians in Belgium, the Netherlands and various other European countries. We believe innovation is crucial and that is why R&D will remain an important spearhead in our further development. PathoSense has already been selected for several prestigious start-up accelerator programs, including the Belgian MedTechAccelerator in 2018 and StartIt @ KBC in 2020-2021. Sebastiaan is co-author of several scientific publications and a patent. He is also co-promoter of several doctoral studies.
How to register?
Price: Participation is FREE of charge. A voluntary contribution to support the activities of our society is welcome on IBAN: BE84 0012 7946 5059 (vzw VEE, Salisburylaan 74, 9820 Merelbeke). An invoice can be provided on request.
Registration: To register, please leave your details via this form. You will receive a link via e-mail to participate on 22 April. Deadline for registration is 21st of April 2021, 24:00.