Permission to cross post the following information to other lists is
granted, as long as the post is taken in it entirety, with out any
changes or additions.
Now that most of the preliminary steps in the ADV research program have
been completed, how will the research proceed? Naturally, what we all
want to see is a vaccine that will protect our beloved ferrets from this
disease.
As I mentioned in an earlier part of this series, while not an impossible
task, making a vaccine for ADV will not be easy. While most vaccines are
made by creating antibodies for the disease they are targeting, with ADV
this will not work, because the antibodies for ADV do not fight the
virus. In fact, it is the antibodies that cause most of the damage to
the ferret's organs. So, we do not want to inject ferrets with ADV
antibodies that are produced naturally.
As little as 10 years ago, it was thought that there could never be a
vaccine for a disease like ADV. With newer technologies and increased
understanding of DNA, things we once believed were impossible are now
possible. But, they are also very expensive. One of the things I have
heard mentioned is producing a vaccine using recombinant DNA technology.
To be honest, I have very little understanding of exactly what this is,
but I do know it is very expensive.
I have no idea how much it will cost to create a vaccine for ADV, but I
would not be at all surprised if the figure is $500,000.00 or greater.
And, this is very likely a lot more then ferret lovers can contribute.
This doesn't mean we shouldn't continue to contribute what we can to the
effort. It just means it is time to start looking for corporate donors
and other sources of funding. Large retail businesses, like PetCo and
PETsMART are good places to start in looking for corporate donors.
Additionally, the major ferret farms, like Path Valley, Triple F and
Marshall Farms have a lot to gain if a vaccine for ADV can be made, and
so they might be convinced to provide some funds too.
So far, the large majority of the funds that have been used at UGA in
the ADV research project have been donations from members of the ferret
community. To date, there have not been any formal grants applied for,
and no grant money received. There was an informal grant application
submitted to the AFA Pamela Slack Memorial Fund, and several thousand
dollars was awarded to UGA from that fund. Money was also given to the
project from another UGA fund, because the University recognized that
the work the team was doing was beneficial, and was also of interest
to the public (the ferret community).
There are both advantages and disadvantages to grant money. The process
of preparing a grant application is a long and tedious task, and takes
away from actual research time. It requires a lot of administrative
work, and as a result, it is a standard practice at Universities for the
Administration of the University to collect as much as 50% of the funds
awarded. That means if the ADV research project received a grant for
$100,000.00, they would actually only get $50,000.00 to use for the
research. The other $50,000.00 would go to pay the salaries of
secretaries and administrators of the University, for maintenance of
buildings, and for utilities and similar items.
So, the disadvantage to grants is that only half the money received
actually goes to the research. The advantage to the grant process is
that there is an action plan spelled out in great detail, and there are
usually milestones during the project where progress on the project is
measured. This can be good, because you can review how the money is
being spent, and also be certain that things are moving in the right
direction. But, this again can take a lot of time and effort away from
the actual research.
Still, it might be that the only way that enough money can be raised to
actually begin work on the vaccine is through grant applications. And,
of course, to apply for a grant there has to first be a fund that awards
money for the type of research that is being pursued.
Before the team at UGA can apply for a grant, they have to find one that
will fund this type of research. They have to go through the process of
putting the application together, and having it reviewed, and finally
hope that they are awarded the grant. They are unlikely to go to the
time and trouble to do all of this unless they feel that the public (the
ferret community) really wants a vaccine for ADV. And, one of the best
ways we can let them know we still want this is through our continuing
donations to ADV research.
Although colleges and universities are qualifying exempt organizations
and considered to be non-profit, they do try to raise a great deal of
money through donations to try to keep tuition costs down and to be able
to attract the best professors and researchers with good salaries and
benefits. Universities are very particular about how research money is
spent. They want to fund projects that will not only teach students, but
will also put the university in the spotlight. They want the projects to
be of interest to the public, so the public will donate more money. They
also want the research projects to be attractive to researchers, again to
attract them to the school to do their work. For a university, donations
of money to a project equal public interest in the work.
We can hope that some of the corporations who make money from the sale
of ferrets and ferret items will also decide that a vaccine for ADV is
important. We might want to start a letter writing campaign, asking
corporations like PetCo and PETsMART to consider making donations to the
UGA ADV research. But the bottom line is, we need to let UGA know that
a vaccine for ADV is both needed and wanted.
Tomorrow I will talk about what happens after a vaccine is developed.
--
Danee
International Ferret Congress Health Issues Coordinator
http://ferretcongress.org
ADV - If your ferret hasn't been tested, you don't know!
For more information visit: http://www.ferretadv.com
You can help fight ADV! Visit:
http://help4adv.terrabox.com/
[Posted in FML issue 4909]
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