Symposium Tours

AAHL tour and scientific program

Visit to CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong

Date: Thursday 15 April 2010
Time: 8.00am
Venue: Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Geelong
Cost: $40.00 - $60.00

On Thursday, 15 April 2010, there will be an organised tour of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory, Australia 's state of the art high containment facility. A bus will pick up delegates from the Melbourne Convention Centre, outside Hilton South Wharf, and transport them 85km to Geelong, the second largest city in Victoria, where AAHL is located. Depending on numbers, visitors will tour the Laboratory's high containment facility, after which they will be under quarantine for seven days where they are not allowed to have close contact with livestock, including birds, horses, donkeys and cloven hoofed animals. Alternately, guests can choose to see the models of the building and labs in the non-secure area and no quarantine will apply. After the morning at AAHL, delegates will be transported to Kilgour Estate, one of the many lovely wine farms in the area for lunch and from there back to their hotels.

There is a limit to the number that can be accommodated for the tour, hence selection will be on a first come, first served basis. There will also be a small charge for the cost of the bus transport (approximately $20 and lunch will range between $20-$40).

There is a good train service between Geelong and Melbourne and guests could spend the day at Geelong and visit the tourist attractions in the city and along Eastern Beach.

The Global FMD Research Alliance Workshop

The Global FMD Research Alliance is planning a workshop at CSIRO’s Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL), in Geelong Victoria, on Thursday 15 April 2010 as part of the FMD Symposium and Workshop. Everybody is welcome to attend. A bus will be available to transport delegates from Melbourne to AAHL and lunch will be at one of the many wine farms in the region.

Understanding the early pathogenesis of FMDV is crucial, not only to formulating effective control measures but also will help in the basic understanding of epidemiology and provide valuable information to inform predictive disease models. The cycle of infection in the individual animal is very short, infection is initiated, disseminated throughout the body and infectious virus produced in less than seven days. Detailed understanding of this cycle is crucial to effectively control disease in livestock populations. Improved understanding will inform the design of vaccines and antiviral therapies and add more precision to disease transmission models, which will ultimately refine disease control protocols.

During the workshop we will present a series of short presentations to review the published literature and share new insights into FMDV pathogenesis and transmission biology.

For more information on AAHL, please visit:

www.csiro.au/aahl
http://www.csiro.au/multimedia/Inside-AAHL.html

DPI tour

Tour of a sale yard, beef and dairy farms, to see National Livestock Identification (cattle) technology in use.

Date: Thursday 15 April
Time: 8.00am – 5.30pm
Venue: Koonwarra Sale yard, Koonwarra Fine Food Store and Tarwin Lower beef farm
Cost: free

Tour of Victorian NLIS beef/dairy farms, sale yard. Involves hands on experience of NLIS in the field.

Itinerary:
8.00 am - Buses will depart Melbourne for Leongatha (Koonwarra sale yard) for cattle store sale, commencing at 10.00 am.

11.30 am - Bus one will depart the sale yard transporting delegates to a dairy farm to see NLIS on-farm benefits. Bus two will travel to Koonwarra Fine Food Store for lunch.

1.00 pm - Bus one will transport delegates from the dairy farm to the Koonwarra Fine Food Store for lunch. Bus two will travel to Tarwin Lower beef farm to see NLIS on-farm benefits.

2.30 - 3.00pm – Buses will depart to arrive back in Melbourne at 5.00 - 5.30pm.