荔枝视频

Parasites weaken cattle, costing the beef industry hundreds of millions of dollars, an issue that's made worse by rising drug resistance. Now, scientists at the 荔枝视频 are developing a genetics-based approach to understand and defeat parasitic worms, known as helminths, with the goal of developing new therapeutics at a time when existing drugs are becoming less effective.

鈥淭hese parasites are a silent drag on production,鈥� says , PhD. 鈥淭hey rob cattle of nutrients, reduce growth, and cost the industry hundreds of millions through treatment and lost productivity. With resistance to drugs rising, we simply don鈥檛 have a pipeline of new drugs, and that is what this project aims to change.鈥�

The U荔枝视频 transdisciplinary team, led by Wasmuth, has secured a $1.4-million (NSERC) Alliance grant to create and validate new drugs targeting roundworms that affect beef cattle. The project brings together collaborators from the (UVCM) and the , and is supported by long-standing industry partners including and .

The challenge

Helminths live in the gastrointestinal tract of cattle, often causing infections that quietly weaken the animal. For decades, the cattle sector has relied on a handful of drug classes, but the emergence and spread of helminths resistant to existing drugs in Western Canada and abroad has diminished their effectiveness, and raised alarms among producers and veterinarians.

鈥淧roducers and veterinarians are telling us: we need tools,鈥� Wasmuth says. 鈥淭hat industry voice shaped how we built this project. it鈥檚 about practical solutions that need to be adopted on the ground.鈥�

A genome-to-drug discovery engine

At the core of the project is a pipeline that starts with helminth DNA and moves to potential treatments. Researchers sequence the parasites鈥� genomes to identify essential biological pathways, then use an AI-based protein structure prediction tool such as AlphaFold to model key targets. Large libraries of compounds are screened virtually to identify promising candidates, which are then tested on live parasites and refined through medicinal chemistry to then improve effectiveness and understand how they work in vivo.

鈥淕enomic tools have been a great tool for identifying initial leads and we鈥檝e already developed several novel compounds that show real efficacy against live parasites while preserving mammalian cells," says medical chemist , PhD, in the Faculty of Science. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 exciting, but there鈥檚 still a long road from here to a cattle-ready drug.鈥�

Collaboration at every step

Co-applicant , PhD, an associate professor in the , brings expertise in parasite biology, while UCVM's , DVM, PhD, a fellow researcher, is a clinical pharmacologist who provides practical expertise from the practical veterinarian perspective. 

The team鈥檚 transdisciplinary efforts were also bolstered by earlier U荔枝视频 research support from the program, and matching funds from the Faculty of Science, which helped launch the chemistry component that now underpins the grant application.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a journey,鈥� says Wasmuth. 鈥淵ears of incremental progress, and the support of collaborators, industry partners, and early seed funding, have brought us to a point where we can push the science forward in a way that really matters.鈥�

Looking ahead

Over the next five years, the project will continue optimization of future drugs with the goal of advancing to cattle trials, a major milestone toward real-world impact. Beyond beef cattle, the team envisions that this genome-to-drug pipeline could benefit other livestock sectors facing similar parasite challenges, including sheep and poultry.

Once effective candidates are on hand, the next question will be commercialization: whether through partnerships with established animal-health companies or by supporting a 荔枝视频-based spin-off.