Research Podcasts – Veterinary Science on the Move

Welcome to the RVC research podcast, where we are joined by Prof Dirk Werling, Professor of Molecular Biology here at the RVC. Prof Werling is a regular contributor to this podcast over the years and is always keen to showcase what research that we are doing at the RVC.  Today we discuss Organoids, in vitro cellular constructs that resemble structure and function of organs, following on from our previous podcast on organ-on-a chip. From disease modelling, treatment trials and individual medicine, this is a very interesting space. We hope that you enjoy.

To find out more about Prof Dirk Werling, use the following link
https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/dirk-werling 

Selected reading material
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33691792/

To Cite this podcast: Dom Barfield. RVC Research Podcast 65 Organoids with Prof Dirk Werling. Published on Apr 24 2026

If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast, Spotify, Acast or your preferred podcast platform and kindly write us a review.

Welcome to the RVC research podcast, where we are joined by Dr Camilla Pegram, Lecturer in Veterinary Epidemiology here at the RVC. Dr Pegram is RVC through and through have completed her veterinary degree here and then returned for a Master’s and has recently completed a PhD looking at applying casual inference methods to emulate randomised clinical trials using VetCompass anonymised clinical records. If you wish to understand, like me, what casual inference is and how it can help, have a listen. We hope that you enjoy.

To find out more about Dr Pegram’s work, use the following link
https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/camilla-pegram

Selected reading material
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31037739/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33754373/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36708945/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31589340/

To Cite this podcast: Dom Barfield. RVC Research Podcast 64 Dr Camilla Pegram. Published on Feb 7 2025

If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast, Spotify, Acast or your preferred podcast platform and kindly write us a review.

Welcome to the RVC research podcast, where we are joined by Dirk Werling, Professor of Molecular Immunology about the technology which is now available to us at the RVC ‘organ on a chip’. Professor Werling shares his obvious passion for this technology and how with his lead involvement in the RVC’s new Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine, this can help our research and help with the 4R principle of animal welfare. We hope that you enjoy listening to our conversation as much as we enjoyed recording it.

To find out more about Prof Werling’s work, use the following link
https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/dirk-werling

To read more about the Centre for Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine
https://www.rvc.ac.uk/research/facilities-and-resources/centre-for-vaccinology-and-regenerative-medicine

Selected reading material
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34150901/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211913215300310?via%3Dihub
https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/22/18/6889
https://journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/16/6/dmm050113/316778/A-systematic-review-of-kidney-on-a-chip-based

To Cite this podcast: Dom Barfield. RVC Research Podcast 63 Organ on a chip with Professor Dirk Werling. Published on May 3 2024

If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast, Spotify, Acast or your preferred podcast platform and kindly write us a review. 

Today we are delighted to have Dr Dan O’Neill joining Brian and myself in our remote studio. Dan is Senior Lecturer in Companion Animal Epidemiology here at the RVC and leader of the VetCompass Programme. Dan eloquently describes his story. After twenty-two years in general practice wanting to find evidence for treating or informing clients on the common conditions that he saw, he took a leap to find those answers. After leaving the keys to his practice as he left one Saturday, he started a Master’s in veterinary epidemiology the following Monday. A PhD followed and he has stayed true to his word to find answers to those problems and with just under 100 papers published so far, he shows no signs of slowing down. A delight to speak to and be in his company, we hope that you enjoy the podcast as much as we did recording it. 

To find out more about Dan use the following link:

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/dan-o-neill

For more about VetCompass:

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/vetcompass  

Here are some links to some of Dan’s papers:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31660657/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32661183/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33325082/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31037739/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32751913/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33128852/

To Cite this podcast as: Dom Barfield. RVC Research Podcast 62 with Dr Dan O’Neill. Published on Apr 02 2021  

If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]; tweet @dombarfield. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast or Acast and kindly write us a review.

Today we are delighted to have Professor Jim Usherwood remotely recording with Brian and myself all appropriately social distancing in our homes (or shed). Jim is a Welcome Trust Senior Fellow and Professor of Locomotor Biomechanics here at the Structure and Motion Laboratory at the RVC. Jim has examined the locomotion of a variety of different species, from mice to pigeons, horses to barn owls, mayflies, ibis, cockatiels and even dogs and humans. We hope that you enjoy.  

To find out more about Jim use the following link:

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/jim-usherwood  

Here are some links to some of Jim’s papers:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32041775/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31033243/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28910262/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27418386/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24429637/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12000801/

To Cite this podcast as: Dom Barfield. RVC Research Podcast 61 with Prof Jim Usherwood. Published on Feb XX 2021   If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]; tweet @dombarfield. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast or Acast and kindly write us a review.

Today we are delighted to have Professor Richard Kock remotely recording with Brian and myself all appropriately social distancing in our homes. Richard is Professor here at the RVC in Wildlife Health and Emerging Diseases. Apt timing perhaps to record this perhaps. Richard is the last person known to diagnose a case of Rinderpest in the world and assisted with his team to help eradicate this virus. Richard has been involved in many other projects globally and he speaks about a few of them with us today. Humbling and inspiring, Richard speaks modestly about his involvement in One Health, and why we all need to be more involved. We hope that you enjoy, stay safe.

To find out more about Richard use the following link:

https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/richard-kock 

Here are some links to some of Richard’s papers:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21724764

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23798687

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25655542

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27094147

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28228144

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25005349 

If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]; tweet @dombarfield. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast or Acast and kindly write us a review.  

Today we are delighted to have Dr Tierney Bennett (nee Kinnison) with Brian and myself in the studio. Tierney is one of our Lecturers in Veterinary Education, based at the LIVE centre here at the RVC (Lifelong, Independent Veterinary Education). Tierney has had an interesting route, a winding path as she refers to her PhD and we are delighted that she spent the time with us to share her thoughts about the different paths available in research and how you never know what you might end up doing.  We hope that you enjoy

To find out more about Tierney’s work use the following link: https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/tierney-bennett-nee-kinnison Here is a link to some of Tierney’s are papers, the first link is her winding path to a PhD in veterinary education.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25556132/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26494771

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31690641

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26446881

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26489995 

If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]; tweet @dombarfield. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast or Acast and kindly write us a review.

Today we are delighted to have Dr Amy Barstow with Brian and myself in the studio. Amy has been finishing up at the clinical skills centre here after completing her PhD in equine biomechanics investigating shock absorption and load distribution in horses exercising on hard surfaces We discuss that and her interest in farriery which has gone on for her to be involved in the Graduate Diploma in Equine Locomotor, to engage farriers with research and address the dearth of farriery related research. 

To find out more about Amy’s work use the following link https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/amy-barstow 

If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]; tweet @dombarfield. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast or Acast and kindly write us a review.

Welcome to the RVC research podcast, where we are joined by Dirk Werling, Professor of Molecular Immunology about the microbiome and why we should all be interested in it. We hope that you enjoy listening to our conversation as much as we enjoyed recording it. To find out more about Prof Werling’s work, use the following link  https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/dirk-werling   If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]; tweet @dombarfield. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast or Acast and kindly write us a review.

For Episode 56 we talk to Dr Rowena Packer who is a BBSRC Research Fellow here at the RVC.

We discuss what led her interest in perusing animal welfare science, and how she came to do her PhD at the RVC and what this has led to along the way.  Her research into breed confirmation and why people might choose those breeds is on-going and fascinating. She has now moved into looking at canine epilepsy and behavioural co-morbidities.

We hope that you enjoy listening to our conversation as much as we enjoyed recording it, inspiring, interesting and informative. To find out more about Rowena’s work use the following link https://www.rvc.ac.uk/about/our-people/rowena-packer For more information about the Big Brainy Border Collie Study please follow this link https://www.rvc.ac.uk/research/research-centres-and-facilities/clinical-investigation-centre/projects/the-big-brainy-border-collie-study-investigating-brain-structure-function-and-behaviour-in-border-collies-with-and-without-idiopathic-epilepsy If you have any comments about this podcast, please get in touch: email [email protected]; tweet @dombarfield. We would greatly appreciate your time to rate us on Apple podcast or Acast and kindly write us a review.