Professor Massimo Palmarini joins the University of Glasgow from the University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine. His expertise spans the fields of viral pathology, endemic disease and cancer. He has also pioneered research on a naturally occurring contagious lung cancer of sheep that cannot currently be controlled and leads to significant economic loss.

Further topical interest is provided by the fact that the biology of the causative agent of the lung cancer was responsible for the demise of Dolly, the world's first cloned mammal. The clear identification of the cause of the cancer is due to Prof. Palmarini's accomplishments, which have guided the field from an area of exclusively veterinary interest to the mainstream of biomedical science. The mechanisms underlying this form of lung cancer may provide new insights into one of the most common and intractable human cancers.

Professor Palmarini will join the senior staff of the Institute of Comparative Medicine, the Faculty's research unit. His arrival in summer 2004 coincides with the completion of the £6.8M Henry Wellcome Building for Comparative Medical Sciences. Andrea Nolan, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine said, 'we look forward to his contribution to the further development of the ICM and its international reputation in the field's of oncology and virology'.

Kate Richardson (media@gla.ac.uk)

First published: 2 June 2004