One Health Institute | Tag: One Health Institute article

Outdoor cats a threat to more than just birds

Letting your cat outside might seem like harmless fun and good exercise for the animal, but it actually poses a serious risk to wildlife. Cats kill an estimated 2.5 billion birds every year, making them one of the leading causes of bird mortality. But it’s not just birds. Cats also prey on insects like butterflies and moths as well as small mammals during their outdoor excursions, and in turn, disturb the area’s biodiversity. It's really important that we get a handle on the specifics of this problem,” says Norris, “because if we lose biodiversity, we’re going to be in big trouble.”

New approach to learning in the pandemic is a huge draw

Most people steered clear of the COVID-19 pandemic chaos… but not Dr. Ryan Gregory. Instead of waiting for the smoke to clear, Gregory and colleagues, Drs. Sofie Lachapelle and Elizabeth Finnis, decided to seize the moment and develop a learning experience to help students make sense of what was happening around them. “We leaned into this unfamiliar situation and embraced it,” says Gregory.

Can we ‘rejuvenate’ the effects of an antibiotic on resistant organisms?

Dr. Georgina Cox at the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology is working on a quintessential One Health enigma: antimicrobial resistance. But, instead of targeting the growth of infectious organisms like most antibiotics, Cox is using a different strategy – one that disarms the bugs, making them less infectious.

New One Health undergraduate program ensures all health disciplines are accounted for

“[One Health] issues are challenging problems,” Dr. Brian Husband says, “so we’re giving students the skillset to think hard and critically about them. That’s powerful and will really benefit them going forward.”

A true collaborative effort to develop a truly collaborative degree

Seldom do food scientists, biologists, veterinarians, and anthropologists plan an undergraduate degree together – as their own disciplines keep them busy enough – but that was exactly the case for the new Bachelor of One Health program at the University of Guelph.