The focus of the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Veterinary Science on attaining optimal health for people, animals and the environment has a direct impact on ensuring food security, and human health and wellbeing, thereby contributing to at least 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations.

During its recent Virtual Faculty Day, held on 21 October 2021, the Faculty’s researchers presented highlights of their research activities over the past year. These activities are focused, in particular, on four specific research themes: translational medicine, African wildlife and health management, sustainable livelihoods and wellbeing, and the pathobiology of disease, as well as several new research focus areas that harness the innovations of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The aim of research in translational medicine is to translate laboratory research into useful products that can assist with overcoming common problems, such as antimicrobial and antiparasitic resistance. As a showcase of a project under this theme, a pilot-scale in vivo study of phytogenic feed additives was presented. The project showed the potential for the further development of this alternative to antibiotic feed additives to support growth and decrease the persistence of Campylobacter jejuni in broiler chickens (a common cause of food poisoning). Excellent results have also been obtained in a project to investigate the topical application of plant-based formulations to reduce the incidence of mastitis-causing bacteria in dairy cattle.

Research related to African wildlife health and management supports several cross-cutting collaborative research projects in the Faculty that are aimed at improving the health, welfare and management of threatened or endangered African species, or enhancing biodiversity and conservation efforts by improving veterinary management procedures.

Pathobiology of disease, as a research theme, is dedicated to the study of diseases in animals, including disease epidemiology. Areas of study include changes in the normal physiology of animals brought about by disease and disease processes. Integral components of this research theme include disease diagnostics from clinical changes observed in the patient, diagnostic imaging, clinical pathological changes, pathological changes, the molecular study of disease processes, including descriptions of new pathological agents and/or toxins, and the epidemiology of animal disease. The Faculty has also increasingly been focusing on various aspects of veterinary infectious and zoonotic diseases, across a number of departments, that impact on human health and food security. These include disciplines such as clinical medicine, epidemiology, risk assessment, public health, chemical food safety and vaccine development.

Prof Vinny Naidoo

Delivering the welcoming address for the day, the Dean of the Faculty, Prof Vinny Naidoo, referred to the Faculty’s plans to establish a new African Centre for Biosecurity and Disease Risk Assessment, which will focus on the entire value chain in animal production, with specific emphasis on the sanitary control of veterinary disease. Part of the vision of this centre will be the discovery of novel approaches for disease intervention and the delivery of preventive health care for animals and humans. It will be the focus of all disease research in the Faculty and is aimed at further improving animal-based agriculture.

In recognition of increasing global pressure on food resources, food insecurity and economic inequality, the Faculty sees aquaculture as one of the fastest-growing food production sectors. As the overwhelming challenges and need for aquatic veterinary and health support in South Africa and Africa still need to be addressed, the establishment of an Aquatic Health Unit in the Faculty will ensure improved aquaculture production by optimising fish health and welfare, capacity development in aquatic health and aquaculture, and address local, continental and global challenges affecting the aquatic industry.

The Virtual Faculty Day programme featured 10 postgraduate and three undergraduate research papers, as well as two postgraduate speed sessions featuring 22 individual research presentations. The keynote address was delivered by Prof Tawana Kupe, the University’s Vice-Chancellor and Principal. The topic of his address was “Science needs to be celebrated, but is that enough?”

A highlight of the event was the delivery of the annual Arnold Theiler Memorial Lecture. The invited speaker was prof Peter Sutovsky from the University of Missouri, USA. The topic of his lecture was “Male fertility and semen evaluation: Andrology in the age of precision medicine and agriculture”.