The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine is emerging as a leader in interdisciplinary research into new treatments that will benefit human and animal health — the One Health/One Medicine concept.
Encompassing the state’s only College of Veterinary Medicine; Colleges of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, Engineering and Human Environmental Sciences; Bond Life Sciences Center; Schools of Medicine, Nursing and Health Professions; and the most powerful university research reactor in the country, MU offers unmatched opportunities for collaboration in animal and human health.
The strength of MU collaborative efforts may be best exemplified by the development of Quadramet. Working with six other MU divisions, the CVM was a partner in the development of a drug that treats the brutal pain of bone cancer, a disease that is more prevalent in dogs than humans. Quadramet attacks cancerous tissue without harming healthy ones thus allowing its palliative benefits without the side effects, such as hair loss, nausea or fatigue, of some other drugs.
And that is just one of many exciting developments:
• Researchers at the Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory have performed the first-ever surgeries to regenerate damaged tissues in dog knees. Based on their success, this procedure is now ready for human clinical trials.
• The Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction (ReCHAI) is conducting groundbreaking research into the human-animal bond and its impact on health.
• MU and Broad Institute researchers discovered the genetic mutation responsible for degenerative myelopathy (DM) in dogs is the same mutation that causes amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), the human disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Scientists can now use information about dogs with DM to help identify cures for ALS (click here for story).
The Comparative Medicine Training Program at MU is already the most successful in the nation and a proposed Comparative Medicine Center would allow veterinarians and researchers in human medicine to build upon that success and pool their expertise to provide cures for common conditions and diseases.
We invite you to meet our faculty and become acquainted with their groundbreaking studies while learning more about the future of One Health/One Medicine.