Dr. Sidonie Lavergne, a researcher at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, has undertaken research investigating drug hypersensitivity reactions in animals to better understand the serious nature and frequency of drug reactions in the veterinary field. Lavergne believes there is a lack of awareness in this field, so she is leading a study on the nature of allergic reactions to medications in both dogs and humans.
As veterinary medicine grows as a field, along with the use of prescription medications in pets and often the use of multiple drugs for long periods of time, Dr. Lavergne’s research will become more and more relevant, and it may save the lives of animals whose allergic reactions have up until now been undiagnosed.
“One of the big issues is that we do not know why the immune system suddenly decides to attack a drug,” Lavergne said of her investigation. “Veterinary researchers have not had access to patients with a history of drug allergy because for so long the problem has gone undiagnosed or dismissed as not important.”
According to the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Lavergne is able to test for memory T cells and antibodies in an animal’s blood sample. Supplies for these tests are paid for by her project’s research funding, so she is able to administer the tests free of charge. Due to her well-established background in veterinary medicine, Lavergne is also able to consult with veterinarians for free and help them work with patients who have had an allergic or life-threatening reaction.
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
In addition to funding potentially life-saving veterinary research, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has a wealth of research funding available for other life science disciplines. Lab suppliers in Illinois will find that, according to recent NIH and NSF funding statistics, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has a great deal of research funding available for university lab equipment. In 2012, the NIH awarded the university $71.1 million in research funding. The life science funding was distributed among projects in anatomy and cell biology, biochemistry, biostatistics and microbiology at the university. For a full list of departments receiving awards and funding at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, please visit the NIH website.
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign also received $7.7 million in NSF research funding for life science research in 2012. The NSF-funded life science projects vary among topics such as evolutionary processes, plant genome research, cellular dynamics and function, genetic mechanisms, global systems science, systems and synthetic biology, macrosystem biology, bioinformatics, molecular biophysics, and systematics and biodiversity science. For more specific statistics on NSF research funding, please visit the NSF website.
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Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. is a full-service science research marketing and events-planning company that organizes life science marketing events at top research institutions across the country. For more information on our Urbana-Champaign Bioresearch Product Faire™ Event, or to learn more about funding statistics for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, click on the button below. If you would like to market university lab equipment at life science marketing events closer to home, we encourage you to view our 2013 calendar of events.