The project's overall goal is to ensure the existence of healthy, genetically pure bison, without domestic cattle and subspecies introgression, and with long-term sustainable genetic diversity in Canada’s bison herds.
Genomics-derived solution will focus on developing four novel genomics tools for bison conservation and deliver:
- Improved diagnostic assays for bovine bTB using advanced proteomic and transcriptomics tools
- A prototype combined recombinant Brucella/rBCG vaccine for use in wood bison, the vaccine development partnership between the University of Saskatchewan, Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and Parks Canada
- A validated SNP chip to evaluate the genetic composition and integrity of existing bison herds
- Rescue and transfer of healthy germplasm between wild and genetically depauperate herds.
For more information, contact:
Reshma Rizvi
Scientific Project Manager
Bison Integrated Genomics Project
University of Saskatchewan
reshma.rizvi@usask.ca