A research and diagnostic laboratory specialising in Vitamin D biology research in companion, production and wild animals
Vitamin D Animal Laboratory (VitDAL)
Led by Professor Richard Mellanby, we explore the relationship between vitamin D, inflammation and health outcomes in companion, farm and wild animals.
Research
VitDAL is based in the Roslin Institute and the Queen’s Medical Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh and 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.
Assay Service
The VitDAL have developed an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography – mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS) assay to accurately key vitamin D metabolites in serum and plasma.
Latest News
VitDAL disentangles effect of surgery on free and total 25(OH)D
Vitamin D status is often low in ill patients but it remains poorly understood if this is a cause or consequence of the illness. To explore this issue further, colleagues in VitDAL teamed up with the orthopaedic service at HfSA to measure inflammatory biomarkers and...
VitDAL publishes open access vitamin D review
The VitDAL team, along with other colleagues from the world leading QMRI mass spectrometry facility, recently published an overview of vitamin D metabolism in veterinary species. The review provided a contemporary and state-of-the-art review of vitamin D metabolite...
VitDAL highlights challenges of understanding canine hypercalcaemia
A recent case report from VitDAL has highlighted the challenges of understanding the pathophysiology of hypercalcaemia in all canine cases. The case summary describes a dog diagnosed with lymphoma had a normal PTH, PTHrp and vitamin D metabolites. The report...