Cooperative Extension Service Communications and Technology Department 3354 1000 E. University Ave. Laramie, WY 82071 (307) 766-2540 • fax (307) 766-3998 • www.uwyo.edu

 

For Immediate Release

 

Contact: Robert Waggener, Editor

Phone: (307) 766-3571

E-mail: robertw@uwyo.edu

 

Date: April 11, 2007

 

UW research lab in memory of Beth Williams and Tom Thorne dedicated April 20

            A new research laboratory in memory of the late Beth Williams and Tom Thorne will be dedicated Friday, April 20, at the Wyoming State Veterinary Laboratory (WSVL).

            The Beth Williams & Tom Thorne Wildlife Research Laboratory is equipped to serve as a molecular diagnostic and research unit, said Donal O’Toole, head of the University of Wyoming’s Department of Veterinary Sciences, which operates the WSVL.

            “The laboratory will focus on diseases of wildlife, and it provides the WSVL with high quality, dedicated space so that work on infectious diseases can be performed safely,” O’Toole said.

            It was established by converting six animal rooms into an infectious diseases lab.

            The facility was funded by the Williams family in memory of Williams and her husband, Thorne, who died in a motor-vehicle crash in December 2004.

            “Representatives of the Williams and Thorne families will be in attendance as will UW administrators and representatives of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (G&F),” said Anne Leonard, director of the UW College of Agriculture’s Office of Ag Development and College Relations.

            Williams was a professor in the Department of Veterinary Sciences, and Thorne was a retired G&F veterinarian. They were prominent experts on chronic wasting disease and brucellosis.

            The laboratory will be under the supervision of Professor Leslie Woods, a veterinary pathologist and professor in the Department of Veterinary Sciences.   

            “Dr. Woods’ current interests are a highly pathogenic adenovirus in deer, which she discovered in California and has since diagnosed in multiple states and provinces in North America, as well as West Nile virus and circovirus in birds,” O’Toole said.

            Graduate students and other faculty members, including the WSVL’s virologist, Assistant Professor Nicky Bratanich, will also use the facility. 

            Persons interested in attending the dedication should call the WSVL for details at (307) 742-6638.       

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