UK DIAGNOSTIC LAB NEWS From the Director’s Desk Craig Carter, DVM PhD Dipl. ACVPM
UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (UKVDL) Lexington, KY
From everyone here at UKVDL, we hope that this letter finds you enjoying some cooler weather, colorful trees, and seeing a bit of the COVID pandemic in your rear-view mirror!
You have likely recently heard the economic forecast alarms for Kentucky agriculture and consumers.
Tis is ramifying throughout
many industries due to the trickle-down na- ture of the causal factors. For agriculture, sup- ply chain breakdowns impact farm equipment maintenance & repair, prices of feed & fertil- izer, labor and shipping shortages that impede the movement of product to markets, and be- yond.
In the first three months of fiscal year 2022, the UKVDL is experiencing over 10% inflation in the cost of laboratory supplies, test kits, and reagents. We are having some diffi- culty ordering and receiving mission critical supplies such as gloves, test kits, reagents, and pipette tips. If this continues, our lab could be facing six-digit deficits by the end of the fiscal year. Te good news is, with renewed vaccina- tion compliance for COVID, the pandemic is slowing down significantly. With any luck, the economy will resurge and nip some of this adversity in the bud. If not, the UKVDL may have to consider some mid-year test fee increases. Hopefully this will not be necessary—we will keep you posted.
(l-r): Dr. Erdal Erol, UKVDL Head, Diagnostic Microbi- ology; Ms. Jocelynn Morgan, UKVDL Section Supervisor, Molecular Biology; Dr. Litty Paul, Investigational Biologist, UKVDL New Pathogen Discovery Laboratory
In my last newsletter, I announced that the UKVDL is launching a New Pathogen Discovery Laboratory (NPDL) as an extension to our Molecular Biology laboratory. Te NPDL is in 1000 sq ft of fully renovated vacant laboratory space at UKVDL. Once in place, the new lab will develop and validate Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and metagenomics methods to help identify new pathogens that are causing diseases in animals. We are excited to announce that we have recruited an Investigational Biologist, Dr. Litty Paul, to oversee this project. She brings valuable experience from her role as a Senior Laboratory Specialist in the Department of Pathology and Molecular Infectious Disease Laboratories at the University of Utah School of Medicine. Over the next three years, the goal is that the NPDL will enable UKVDL to offer new ad- vanced test methods to our clients to aid in animal disease diagnosis.
We are proud to announce that, with Dean Cox’ full approval, Dr. Alan Loynachan, one of our senior veterinary pathologists, was appointed as the Associate Director for the UKVDL, effective September 1, 2021. Te UKVDL has undergone significant mission growth over the last decade and Dr. Loynachan will be a welcome and valuable addition to our administrative staff resources to better serve our clients. Dr. Loynachan received his DVM and PhD in Veterinary Microbiology from Iowa State University. He was Board Certified in pathology by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists in 2008. He is very active in veterinary teaching and research and is widely published in the peer reviewed literature and lay periodi- cals. We are very proud that Dr. Loynachan is now serving as our Associate Director and look forward to working with him in this capacity.
We are also delighted to announce that Dr. Melissa P. Swan recently joined the UKVDL pathology group as a Diagnostic Veterinary Pathologist. Dr. Swan received her A.A.S. degree in Veterinary Technology from
18 KVMA News - Diagnostic Rounds Continued on pg. 19
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