Message from the Organizer

Dibesh Karmacharya, PhD

Chairman | Executive Director - Center for Molecular Dynamics Nepal

Executive Director - Intrepid Nepal Pvt. Ltd.

Chief Executive Officer - BIOVAC Nepal Pvt. Ltd.

Poultry farming has historically played a major role as an income generating enterprise in Nepal and continues to be popular and growing rapidly. It has become one of the major sources of food security and protein for the growing Nepali population, both urban and rural. In the commercial sector, around 75 million broiler chickens are reared annually as a source of meat. The size of the poultry population has significantly increased in the recent years. The present population of laying hens is 7,290,875 producing 63,460,000 eggs. In addition 17,551 metric tons of poultry meat is produced.

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Goal

The goal of this event is to bring together stakeholders from various organizations involved from production till consumption of poultry-related products. Expert insights from vaccine manufacturers, government health officials, poultry farmers and distributors, veterinarians, researchers, and international organizations would provide a unique perspective into the current state of the poultry industry in Nepal and its current advances as well as limitations. Moreover, it would provide farm owners access to substantial knowledge regarding poultry health and products to ensure viability of their chickens that they would not get elsewhere.

Speakers

Prof. Ursula Hofle Hansen, PhD

Profesor Contratado Doctor / Researcher

Avian Pathology - Avian Diseases Section SaBio (Sanidad Y Biotecnología) Research Group National Wildlife Research Institute IREC (CSIC-Universidad De Castilla – La Mancha) Spain

Ursula Höfle is a veterinary scientist specialised in infectious diseases of wild birds important for conservation and at the interface of wildlife, domestic animals and man. She earned a PhD on viral infections of Spanish birds of prey from the veterinary faculty of the University of Giessen in Germany in 2002. Her primary interests are shared diseases such as avian influenza, West Nile fever or pathogenic enterobacteria but also diseases relevant for conservation such as avian trichomonosis.

Prof. Joanne Meers, PhD

Professor in Veterinary Virology in the School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, AUS

Dr Meers' research has focused on a variety of viruses of veterinary importance including viruses of both domestic and native animal species. Her research interests include viral diseases of livestock in developing countries including Newcastle disease and avian influenza, koala retrovirus, feline immunodeficiency virus and canine parvovirus

Prof. Venugopal Nair OBE

Expertise in Innovations in Avian Disease control, Pirbright Institute, United Kingdom

Venugopal obtained his PhD in Veterinary Medicine from Chennai, India. He started his research career in virology at Oxford University before moving to the Pirbright Institute. His group uses innovative approaches in developing state of the art vaccines and diagnostics for controlling avian diseases. Prof. Nair also holds Visiting Professorship positions at Oxford University Department of Zoology, Imperial College London, and University of Liverpool. He is also a Jenner Investigator. He has extensive international collaborations through Global Alliance for Research on Avian Diseases (www.garad.org) and UK-China Centre of Excellence for Research on Avian Diseases.

Pawan Dulal, PhD

Biotechnologist and Vaccinologist at the Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, UK. DPhil in Clinical Medicine University of Oxford, UK.

Dr. Dulal is a scientist motivated to reduce the financial and logistical burden of ‘the cold chain’ by improving thermostability of vaccines. His post-graduate works have focused on formulation and thermostability of vaccines spanning from protein vaccines through to virus like particles, recombinant viral vaccine and various adjuvants of both human and veterinary importance. He investigated a novel sugar-matrix thermostabilisation technology (SMT) during his DPhil research which has been shown to enhance thermostability of otherwise heat-labile vaccine to withstand high temperatures for extended period of time. Dr. Dulal will be talking about importance of final product formulation and thermostability of vaccines. He will also be discussing about approaches taken by his group to enhance shelf-life of different vaccines.

Mary Young, PhD

Senior Technical Manager Kyeema Foundation, Brisbane

Dr. Young has focused on diseases of village chickens, particularly ND. Her particular field of expertise is setting up small-scale production of I-2 ND vaccine for village chickens, and training laboratory staff in vaccine production, testing and distribution. Since 2010, she has been working with a Brisbane-based NGO, Kyeema Foundation, and in 2011 visited Nepal to conduct cold chain training for a project implemented by Heifer International Nepal in Jhapa district. She also visited the Central Biological Production Laboratory in Kathmandu to assess I-2 ND vaccine production needs and constraints. She has also worked with FAO Avian Influenza Control Programme in Indonesia.

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