New Zealand

Research Services:

Veterinary Health Research NZ (VHRNZ) provides a wide range of contract research services to the animal health industry. We have expertise in conducting;

  • efficacy studies
  • tissue, milk and wool residue studies
  • safety studies
  • and pharmacokinetic studies

and we are specialists in research into the control of internal and external parasites and other diseases. Research studies encompass a range of species including;

  • sheep
  • cattle
  • and horses

Facilities:

Based at Innovation Park on the outskirts of the Agresearch Ruakura campus in Hamilton, VHRNZ is only an hour and a half from the centre of Auckland. Our facilities cater for a wide range of research demands and include;

  • one hundred hectares of open grazing paddocks
  • undercover cattle yards
  • indoor sheep pens
  • animal houses
  • and a purpose built research dairy

Parasitology Services:

We provide the following services / tests;

  • faecal egg counts, liver fluke faecal egg counts, larval differentiations, total worm counts, digests, total fluke counts and faecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT)
  • parasite monitoring kits
  • parasitology (worm monitoring) and gross pathology
  • larval motility and migration assays
  • larval development assays
  • the supply of sheep larvae including Haemonchus, Ostertagia, Trichostrongylus and Nematodirus (drug susceptible and resistant species including ML and Levamisole susceptible, if required).
  • access to ML resistant Cooperia from cattle
  • in-vitro product testing using larval motility assays, larval migration assays and larval development assays
  • and we are continually conducting work to isolate resistant sheep parasites

Quality Assurance:

We undertake studies in compliance with GCP or GLP as required.

Animal ethics:

VHRNZ obtains animal ethics approval from Agresearch at the Ruakura campus.

Senior Staff:

Johan Zonderland

Qualifications: BSc, MSc, PhD
Position: Research Leader
Relevant Experience and Responsibilities:

  • over 15 years experience in Animal Research
  • worked for over 13 years as a Scientist for Wageningen University and Research Centres in the Netherlands
  • over 13 years experience in project management
  • experience in the management of GCP and GLP projects
  • experience in parasitology procedures and identification of roundworms in sheep and cattle