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Can a dog sniff out disease? How do they do it? How can you train a dog to detect disease?
This lecture will examine dogs as disease detectors, in other words, using dogs as biomedical detection tools. Given that we are interested in whether dogs are able to sniff out disease, Catherine Reeve, a PhD candidate at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada under the supervision of Dr. Simon Gadbois, will briefly review the incredible olfactory ability of dogs by presenting the basic physiology of the dog’s olfactory system. She will then discuss the basic chemistry of physiological change in humans, thereby highlighting how and why dogs are well suited for disease detection. Next, Catherine will present summaries of academic studies examining dogs’ ability to detect disease (cancers and inflammatory diseases), infections (MRSA), and physiological states (seizures and diabetic hypoglycemia), including her own research examining dogs’ ability to detect hypoglycemia in breath samples from individuals with Type 1 Diabetes. In summarizing these studies, Ms. Reeve will highlight the different training and sampling methods used and then discuss how these differences may influence their findings. Finally, she will summarize the current state of the field and present personal recommendations for moving forward. A question and answer session will follow moderated by Dr. Monique Udell.
Come join us on May 16th, or for the recorded session after, to learn more about this important use of dogs as detectors of disease by researcher, Catherine Reeves.
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