The Western College of Veterinary Medicine, located on the campus of the University of Saskatchewan, has officially opened its state of the art Westgen Research Suite, on the second floor of its new two level research wing.

The suite was built and equipped with the help of Westgen, a non-profit producer owned society based in B.C., and will focus on advancing reproductive techniques in cattle, swine, horses, and other livestock species.

College dean Dr. Charles Rhodes says the ultimate goals is improved reproductive efficiency.

Dr. Charles Rhodes-Western College of Veterinary Medicine

The Westgen Research suite will primarily involve work in animal reproduction and it will involve a variety of studies looking at both the male and the female side of the equation for a large number of species.

The primary focus will be on livestock species, cattle in particular, but swine sheep, horses and some of the non traditional species such as bison and elk.

The lab has a lot of traditional type of equipment, centrifuges and those sorts of things but it also has some special rooms where we can do molecular techniques and things like in Vivo fertilization and studies with manipulation of embryos and cells that require special equipment for freezing or incubating and also special air conditions to minimize contamination.

Dr. Rhodes notes, since its inception, the college has had a strong program in animal reproduction, and the new facility will allow researchers to build on that expertise.