Purdue, Elanco to enter five-year partnership for animal health research

Purdue University and the Purdue Research Foundation recently announced a five-year partnership with Elanco Animal Health Inc. to train future professionals and advance research in the animal health sector. 

The partnership will provide Elanco with access to Purdue’s leading life science resources, facilities and research scientists who are experts in the field of animal science, structural biology, protein evolution and engineering, microbiome discover and clinical veterinary medicine. 

“This alliance with Purdue adds momentum toward Elanco’s promise to rigorously innovate for the benefit of our customers and improve the health of animals,” said Elanco executive vice president for innovation, regulatory and business development Aaron Schacht. 

 “Purdue’s dedication to delivering solutions has propelled the institution into amassing strengths in a wide array of disciplines and is a natural partner of choice,” he added. 

There will be five types of potential research collaborations, three intellectual property opportunities and various other support initiatives for the Elanco research team. 

The collaboration involves accelerating research projects from the ideation stage into active work by setting up a defined scheme of collaboration types and intellectual property management, support a visiting scholar in structural biology who will work with Purdue scientists, and train future professionals in animal health science and other relevant industry areas to meet the needs of the current workforce. 

True to its nature as a land-grant university, Purdue has established prominence in agriculture, natural sciences, life sciences industries and in educating professionals in these sectors to become tomorrow’s leaders. 

For instance, Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine is ranked 13th among US colleges of veterinary medicine under the US News and World Report rankings. 

“Purdue and Elanco are working on ways to improve the animal health and their food intake to increase the absorption of important nutrients consumed by animals using state-of-the-art tools,” said Purdue Department of Biological Sciences Trent and Judith Anderson Distinguished Professor Richard Kuhn. 

“This new agreement is a great opportunity to expand the collaborations between Purdue and Elanco because this type of research is a strength for both of us, and we anticipate the research will have a strong global impact.”

“Elanco and Purdue have a strong alignment of mission and values, and we anticipate many positive results from this important alliance,” added Purdue Research Foundation President Brian Edelman.

“This partnership is designed to educate students on real-industry problems, advance research endeavours, provide collaboration opportunities with skilled research scientists and laboratories, and train the next generation of our workforce.”

The Elanco and Purdue partnership will advance research endeavours such as collaborative discovery, co-development of new innovations and advance existing technologies with the help of mutual resources and research capabilities.