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The phrase and brain-boosting properties of “Zoobiquity” were coined by Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, a professor of medicine at UCLA, and co-author Kathryn Bowers in their book “Zoobiquity: The Astonishing Connection Between Human and Animal Health.” Natterson-Horowitz has said, “Over centuries of modern human times, we’ve forgotten about how essentially animal we are.”
Kicking off the CSU portion of the conference, Dr. Wayne McIlwraith, University Distinguished Professor and director of the Orthopaedic Research Center at CSU, talked about being the only veterinarian in a class on human arthroscopic surgery at Purdue University in 1976. This was his first experience in translational research and medicine from a human patient to horse patients.
There were more than a few skeptics arguing against the use of this procedure in horses, initially. But McIlwraith helped silence those critics, after he operated on Spend a Buck, an American thoroughbred racehorse. Five months after the procedure, Spend a Buck won the Kentucky Derby by more than five lengths.
“That’s what convinced most of the equine racing world about the benefits of arthroscopy,” said McIlwraith. Now, the procedure is widely accepted for horses and has revolutionized care for equine patients in much the same way it did for humans.
Dr. Laurie Goodrich, a CSU associate professor of orthopedics in the Department of Clinical Sciences, explored the question: Why do we need regenerative medicine?
She discussed cartilage injuries in horses and the need for new therapies that would provide faster bone healing in equine patients. Stem cell therapy has shown promise in horses to treat osteoarthritis, and to help with cartilage repair, fracture healing and tendinopathy, a disease that causes tenderness and pain in tendons.
“We still need comparisons between the different types of stem cells that exist,” Goodrich said. “We need larger and more clinical trials. We hope to treat our patients better, faster and more effectively.”
Dr. Steve Dow, professor of immunology in the Department of Clinical Sciences, and Dr. Terry Fry, co-director of the Human Immunology and Immunotherapy Initiative on the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, shared new insights into childhood cancer gained from clinical trials in dogs.
Fry acknowledged how far the field has come, while also highlighting what still needs to be explored. Although some patients with some tumors have dramatic responses, these responses are uneven and unpredictable, said Fry.
“There are patients we know that are probably cured with a
A horse runs on a high-speed treadmill at CSU’s Orthpaedic Research Center on day two of Zoobiquity Colorado.
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