Background
With increasing public pressure to eliminate growth promoting antibiotics (GPAs) from the Canadian poultry industry, affordable and broadly implementable alternatives that minimize risk of infection from enteric pathogens such as Clostridium perfringens, are urgently needed. While recent studies have demonstrated the potential of probiotics to reduce pathogen burden in the GI tract, it is not clear how they work or which formulations are most efficacious. The project will investigate the molecular basis by which probiotic formulations protect against infection and compare the performance of currently employed probiotics against a panel of formulations.Funding
$621,700 (CPRC $40,000, ALMA $240,000, NSERC Discovery $50,000, Lallemand Animal Nutrition $45,000, Pitblado Chair $30,000, Hospital for Sick Children $92,400 (in-kind), University of Toronto $23,100 (in-kind), University of Alberta $46,200 (in-kind), New Life Mills $45,000 (in-kind), Aviagen $10,000 (in-kind))Status report coming soon