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CENTRAL VETERINARY RESEARCH LABORATORY The Central Veterinary Research Laboratory was founded by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 1985. Since 1987, both the current Administrative Director and the Scientific Director have been responsible for the development of the Laboratory. Throughout the U.A.E. and neighbouring Gulf countries, the CVRL provided diagnostic confirmation of diseases in a wide variety of species, including camels, horses, falcons, cattle, fish, bees, zoo animals and small ruminants. Highly qualified scientists are recruited worldwide and an efficient staff is employed throughout a variety of departments, including Forensic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Bacteriology, Parasitology, Histopathology, Virology, Molecular Biology and Genetics. Following its establishment, the Laboratory has successfully achieved several innovative scientific discoveries, particularly in relation to camel and falcon welfare, and members of the senior staff have made significant scientific contributions to numerous international research seminars. The Scientific Director and his co-authors have published several books on diseases of camels and falcons, many of which have been translated into Arabic and serve as valuable reference material for both camel owners and veterinarians. As the only EU accredited laboratory in the Middle East, the CVRL ensures, by the meticulous blood testing of all horses entering and leaving the U.A.E., their guaranteed freedom from notifiable equine diseases. It is noteworthy that Dubai was selected to host the 8th International Conference on Equine Infectious Diseases in 1998, during which 300 international delegates contributed to the progress of veterinary science in this important field. The Equine Forensic Unit was internationally accredited in June 2000 for the testing of prohibited substances in racehorses and racing camels competing in the U.A.E. In March of 2004, the 15th International Conference of Racing Analysts and Veterinarians (ICRAV) was hosted by the EFU of the CVRL and over 200 delegates from over 20 countries around the world attended. During the conference, 88 scientific papers were presented by a variety of international speakers. In 1996, the Molecular Biology and Genetic (MBG) section was initiated at the CVRL. Since then, the MBG has had two major roles within the CVRL. One is to apply Molecular Biology techniques as tools in aid of diagnosis of infectious disease (e.g. WNV, CEM and FMD) and also to aid the animal breeders in their breeding programmes (e.g. bird sexing and parentage test). The second is to provide high quality animal genetic research. To date, numbers of de nova microsatellite markers were discovered in camels and a panel of markers was established for camel genotyping and parentage verification test. In 2001, the MBG was accepted by the International Society of Animal Genetics (ISAG) as a centre for Equine Genotyping and Parentage Verification test. Scientific Director: Priv.Doz.Dr.Dr. habil Ulrich Wernery Central Veterinary Research Laboratory
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