The Vitamin D Animal Laboratory (VitDAL), led by Professor Richard Mellanby and based in the Roslin Institute and the Queen’s Medical Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh, brings together expertise in clinical veterinary endocrionology and nutrition, proteomics and immunology with the overarching ambition of advancing understanding of vitamin D biology in all species. The research of VitDAL explores the relationship between vitamin D, inflammation and health outcomes in companion, farm and wild animals. These studies run alongside mechanistic investigations in murine experimental disease models. This diverse, multi-species approach allows the lab to address key vitamin D research questions which would not be possible using a single species system.

The key aims of the VitDAL are :

  • Provide an external diagnostic service measuring key vitamin D metabolites in clinical veterinary patients
  • Advance understanding of the health benefits of vitamin D with a focus on non-skeletal tissues
  • Undertake mechanistic studies which investigate how vitamin D modulates the immune response

Key recent achievements of the VitDAL include:

If you would like to contact the VitDAL please email Richard.Mellanby@ed.ac.uk