April 7, 2021

University of Lethbridge researcher receives funding for study on cattle feed and food-borne pathogens

Dr Kim Stanford, research associate at the University of Lethbridge, has received funding from the Alberta's new Results Driven Agricultural Research (RDAR) fund to continue her research on cattle feed and food-borne pathogens, Lethbridge News reported.

Stanford said her research investigates methods in improving control and detection of pathogenic E. coli and approaches to lower ergot in cattle feed.

One of her studies involves E. coli genome analysis to improve detection of pathogenic strains. Stanford had collected many E. coli samples from cattle working for the Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, and is currently studying a better method to classify different strains that can produce "Shiga toxins" that can cause illness among humans.

Stanford is also working with the Alberta Health Services to investigate the correlation between pathogenic E. coli shed by cattle and human disease, as well as a study with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada scientists in detecting pathogenic E. coli within the meat production chain.

Standord and her collaborators have also received funding from the Beef Cattle Research Cattle to produce 'Cows on the Planet', a series of podcasts providing science-based information helping Canadians understand the cattle industry.

- Lethbridge News