Leading animal researcher honoured by U of S

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

A long-time teacher and researcher at the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine has been honoured for his ground-breaking work in animal and human reproductive science.

Dr. Gregg Adams received the university’s Distinguished Researcher Award during the spring convocation.

Dr. Adams has been associated with the college since receiving his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree there in 1982. He is currently part of the college’s reproductive health and medical imaging group.

“We have one of the strongest reproductive science and medical groups in the world,” Adams said. “This really represents the strength of the group I’m involved with, and I’m really pleased and proud of that.”

In receiving the award, Adams was specifically cited for his work in applying research developed with cattle to the human reproductive system.

“We’ve developed animal models, particularly the bovine model, of ovarian function and have translated that into human studies,” he said. “That has resulted in some important breakthroughs in understanding ovarian function in women.”

Those discoveries led to his work being recognized as a top science story by Discover magazine.

Adams makes it clear that his passion is not pure research, but also its practical application. He is very proud of the way the work has been applied in the field.

“We now have techniques where we can synchronize the cycle to the day. Artificial insemination has not been used optimally in beef cattle because most producers don’t have the time and energy to detect estrus and have their animals inseminated at the appropriate time,” Adams said.

“Now we have a tool where the producer can say, ‘I want to breed my animals at 2:30 next Tuesday.’ We’ve shown that fertility from that fixed-time insemination is as good as natural mating. That’s a tremendously valuable and useful thing for producers.”

Adams’ current passion is the application of knowledge to be gained through the Canadian Light Source synchrotron, where his work led to the assignment of a beam line to health sciences projects.

“This is one of only three dedicated bio-medical beam lines in the world,” he noted. “It will allow us to do some very exciting research on animals as small as mice and as large as cattle, and maybe even a buffalo someday.”

Adams looks forward to applying synchrotron technology to his passion for animal reproduction.

“What I would like to do is image the egg inside the follicle, inside the ovary, inside the cow,” he stated. “I’m interested in looking at the characteristics of a good egg, versus one that won’t be able to be fertilized and develop into a calf. The ability to look at this in a live animal is very powerful and important to us.”

For more information, contact:
Dr. Gregg Adams, Professor
Western College of Veterinary Medicine
Phone: (306) 966-7411
E-mail: gregg.adams@usask.ca
Website: www.usask.ca/research