The Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS) and the Instituto de Saúde Pública da Universidade do Porto (ISPUP) will launch the platform “Vet-OncoNet” (Veterinary Oncology Network), a website that aims to gather information on neoplasms present in pets and create a national registry of animal oncology.
The platform, the only one of its kind in Portugal, will be officially launched on December 6, 2019, at ICBAS, with a session open to all interested in the area of Veterinary Oncology.
According to João Niza Ribeiro, an ICBAS Professor and member of the ISPUP Board, “Vet-OncoNet” aims to “aggregate epidemiological, diagnostic and clinical information related to veterinary oncology and provide important data for Animal, Human and Environmental Health”.
“With the information gathered in the platform, we want to better understand the frequency and distribution of tumors across the country and to study risk factors in pets, which was not possible until now, because there was no national register of cases of tumors in animals”, explains the researcher.
Veterinarians, animal owners and veterinary diagnostic laboratories have their own space on the platform to submit information. “In the case of veterinarians data for each cancer case they have will be inserted and, for the owners, information about the daily life of their pet will be collected”, stresses Katia Pinello, an ICBAS Professor and researcher associated with the project.
The platform underpins the concept of “One Health” which recognizes that human, animal and ecosystem health are interconnected. “Since pets share environments with their keepers, the misfortune of developing an oncological disease can be a warning sign for an increased risk, potentially avoidable if detected early,” says Augusto de Matos, a Professor at ICBAS. “We therefore believe that this platform will be a very effective means for cancer research and prevention”, he says.
“Additionally, we want it to be a network open to collaboration with other Veterinary Education Institutions. UTAD, for example, has already expressed interest in being an institutional partner of this network. Due diligence is currently being undertaken for UTAD to participate as a founding partner”, the researchers conclude.
Those interested in participating in the session should register at the following address: condir@icbas.up.pt. The event will start at 10:30 am and will mark the official launch of “Vet-OncoNet”.
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