Dr Sam Strain
Veterinary surgeon with approximately ten years experience as a general practitioner. He qualified from Glasgow University Veterinary School in 1992 where he was awarded a PhD in ruminant immunology in 2001. Currently, as a veterinary research officer within AFBI, he has a particular interest in the host-pathogen interaction of mycobacterial pathogens of cattle and sheep with a particular emphasis on Johne’s disease. He is currently a co-investigator in a large EU-funded project investigating the early immune responses to Johne’s disease in cattle which, it is hoped, will lead to better diagnostic tools. In June 2007 he helped host a multidisciplinary meeting of scientists in Belfast to review current progress in Johne’s research and diagnosis within Europe. He is also a project board member for a UK-wide prevalence survey of Johne’s disease in dairy herds. It is hoped that a report on the prevalence of Johne’s disease within UK dairy herds will be available in 2008.
Ms Maria Guelbenzu
Maria Guelbenzu is a Veterinary Research Officer in AFBI. She currently has responsibility for managing the Diagnostic Virology laboratory and the UKAS-accredited serology within Veterinary Sciences Division’s Diagnostic Unit. Maria graduated from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zaragoza in 1998 and has been a Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS) since 1999. She was awarded a Leonardo da Vinci grant, which allowed her to take a post working at a small animal veterinary hospital in West Sussex, before moving to Northern Ireland where she gained five years of experience as a veterinary practitioner in a mixed practice. She joined AFBI in 2005 and is the deputy epizootic disease coordinator for VSD and a member of the Scientific Advisory Group to DARD on Avian Influenza. Maria has a particular interest in Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD) and she is working on an Agri-food funded PhD project investigating BVDV in Northern Ireland.
