3 June 2016

Transfer Tech Sherbrooke, the Université de Sherbrooke’s commercialization entity, and Bayer have concluded a key agreement for dairy farmers worldwide, paving the way for a vaccine against bovine mastitis developed within the Université de Sherbrooke’s Faculty of Science. François Malouin, a professor in the Faculty’s Biology Department, was the driving force behind this major discovery.

Bovine mastitis is the inflammation of the mammary gland in cows. The bacteria that frequently causes this infection, Staphylococcus aureus, spreads easily from one animal to another. Even with antibiotics, the healing process is difficult and may take several months, which results in significant losses for dairy farmers. In Québec alone, the costs related to this disease add up to $110 million per year.

Professor François Morin and his team demonstrated that cows that received this vaccine produced more milk, and that the milk was of higher quality than that of non-vaccinated cows. Furthermore, in vaccinated herds, a decrease in the prevalence of Staphylococcus aureus was observed, and infected cows are better able to fight the infection.

In signing this agreement, Bayer is committing to finish developing the product, and to market it. The Université de Sherbrooke is pleased with this agreement. “It highlights our capacity to work effectively with our partners during the development and marketing stages, which opens the door to other similar collaborations,” said Jacques Beauvais, the Université de Sherbrooke’s Vice-President of Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Source : Université de Sherbrooke