The Department of Pathology and Microbiology will be interviewing 3 candidates for the tenure track faculty position in Veterinary Parasitology.  

Our first candidate, Dr. Nina Gillis-Germitsch, is a veterinary parasitologist working at the Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich, Switzerland. She obtained her veterinary degree from the Vetsuisse faculty, University of Zurich in 2015. She became passionate about parasitology during her veterinary master studies, which focused on lungworms of foxes. In 2017 she obtained her veterinary doctorate (Dr. med. vet. / DVM) by studying the epidemiology and detection of lungworms in canids. She continued her path in veterinary parasitology by conducting a PhD in molecular parasitology with a focus on host-parasite interaction. She has been a lecturer of parasitology for 4 years and recently finished her residency of the European Veterinary Parasitology College.

SEMINAR:

Clinical relevance of Angiostrongylus vasorum and how it interacts with host coagulation 

Teaching seminar:

Angiostrongylus vasorum is a cardiopulmonary nematode of dogs, which is challenging to diagnose and treat. It can cause respiratory distress and bleeding disorders in infected dogs. If left untreated the infection can be fatal. A. vasorum has been present in Newfoundland for several decades. The parasite has recently spread to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and now poses a threat to dogs in the Maritimes. 

Research seminar:

The pathophysiology of bleeding disorders caused by A. vasorum is still unclear. The proteomic characterization of A. vasorum excretory/secretory proteins (ESP) and in vitro approaches, including N-terminomics, rotational thromboelastometry, and cell stimulation assays evaluating the effect of A. vasorum ESP and parasite-derived proteases on host coagulation and fibrinolysis shed light on the pathogenesis of coagulopathies upon A. vasorum infection. 

Join Zoom Meeting

https://upei.zoom.us/j/69670718480?pwd=QTJQN1ZjdC8rSTlTeFlMdVBOZWNKQT09

Meeting ID: 696 7071 8480

Passcode: 257308