From one budgie to a herd of cows

Biobest Laboratories was founded in 1995 and originally specialised in veterinary virology. Since then, the company has grown and expanded into other areas, including clinical pathology, serology and cell culture. Testing covers a wide range of sample types, including blood, serum, tissue, faeces and even stem cells, and tests are conducted on a variety of animals, as Lab Manager Jennifer Bunyan explained: “Our work covers testing someone’s pet budgie up to a whole herd of cattle, and many of our samples are for rabies screening for pet travel. We are the main provider of this service in the UK, and it’s a hot topic at the moment due to the uncertainty over post-Brexit EU pet travel; it’s possible that it might go back to compulsory blood testing for pet health certificates.”

“One of the most exciting areas we work in is stem cell therapy. We first began culturing mesenchymal stem cells in 2005 and, at that time, it was mainly used to treat equine tendon injuries in racehorses. It’s a very successful therapy and about 75 per cent of horses make a good enough recovery to race again, so it’s not surprising that it’s getting very popular. We’re also now seeing an increase in its use for dogs too, particularly to treat joint problems and degenerative disease. It’s a really exciting area because it’s making a massive difference to the future of these animals.”

Jennifer continued: “The rest of our work is quite seasonal and varies throughout the year, largely following the cycles of natural farming and animal husbandry. We conduct a lot of bovine testing over the winter for instance, because animals are often brought in from the fields into sheds and it’s easier for vets to take samples, whereas in May we conduct a lot of to raptor sexing. Our work really is very diverse!”

To learn more about Biobest, visit www.biobest.co.uk