International Day of Veterinary Medicine: Advancing canine lymphoma research

Posted on: 6 December 2024 in 2024

To celebrate International Day of Veterinary Medicine on the 9 December, we'd like to say a special thank you to dog owner organisation, Zoe’s Journey UK for the recent gift to the School of Veterinary Science to support research on canine lymphoma.

Earlier this year, Zoe’s Journey made a donation to aid canine cancer research and we are thrilled to have received an additional donation to aid research on using artificial intelligence to improve the diagnosis of canine lymphoma.

Professor Lorenzo Ressel, Head of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology, who received the funding, expressed his gratitude and said: “I extend my thanks to Jayne and her team for this donation and wish them continued success in their fundraising efforts for canine cancer research.

“The use of artificial intelligence in diagnostics represents a promising future application, though it poses challenges today. With this project, we aim to explore the feasibility of using neural networks for diagnosing and classifying lymphoma in dogs.”

More about Zoe's Journey

Golden retriever Zoe meant the world to her owner Jayne, so when her furry friend was diagnosed with stage 3 lymphoma cancer Jayne was naturally heartbroken. Despite her diagnosis, Zoe beat all odds and after undergoing rounds of chemotherapy she went on to become cancer-free. Zoe lived a happy life and passed away peacefully of old age in 2016.

After Zoe's diagnosis, Jayne sought to make a difference for dogs living with cancer and set up Zoe's Journey UK to raise funds for the Animal Health Trust, which has a dedicated cancer research unit.

Cancer is the leading cause of death for dogs, approximately one in three dogs will develop cancer. As part of their mission to help dogs and their owners, Zoe's Journey kindly donated to support the University of Liverpool's School of Veterinary Science's research into canine cancer and preventing the adverse effects sometimes experienced by dogs receiving chemotherapy for their cancer.

A huge thank you to Zoe's Journey for their support.