The Swine it Podcast Show Canada - #29 - Swine and Human Health: An Interdisciplinary Approach

In this episode, I had the pleasure of welcoming a very special guest who brings us a different perspective on the use of pigs. Dr. Dylan Olver is an assistant professor of the Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences at the University of Saskatchewan and is dedicated to the research of  pigs as a biological model for humans. In this episode, he discusses the details of using pigs and mice in research, what is the relationship between cardiac, vascular and neurological changes in pigs, how the use of these animals can improve human medicine and, consequently, the lives of people who need transplants. Dr. Olver also shows how it is possible to apply some of the knowledge obtained through these studies in pig production.

What you’ll learn:

     ○ Importance of pigs for human health

     ○ Benefits of using pigs instead of rodents

     ○ How the age of pigs impacts their heart and how this affects pig production

     ○ Study on birth weight and its effect on cardiac function

     ○ Discussion on complications due to  low birth weight

Meet the guest:

Dr. Dylan Olver

Experience:

     ○ Current: Assistant Professor of Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences at University of Saskatchewan 

 Background

     ○ Postdoctoral Fellowship, Cardiovascular & Microcirculation Groups (University of Missouri-Columbia )

     ○ Ph.D., Neurovascular Research Lab (The University of Western Ontario)

     ○ M.Sc., Exercise Nutrition Research Lab (The University of Western Ontario)