Campus
research will begin with developing simple pain models.
Always humane, this veterinarian who took in the campus-famous squirrel, Earl, and raised it from infancy, assures people that the work will not be cruel.
Beams of light similar to flashlights will be directed at a horse's
Thomas Tobin is intrigued by solutions to horse problems because these animals are at the "whim of mankind."
ankle. As soon as the horse experiences any uncomfortable sensation as noted by either flinching or shifting of its weight, the experiment is terminated, Tobin said. It will be a timed response model. The animals will not be subjected to inhumane treatment. After researchers have determined the response time to the stimulus, they will administer medications which alter perception and time the horse again.
The research will begin with the most common compounds like
phenylbutazone ("bute") and will progress through other classes. "There is a misconception of how these drugs work," Tobin said. "We want to clearly demonstrate how they work."
For example, bute, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, is often confused with narcotics. It is analogous to human's aspirin. There is a need, according to Tobin, to dispel many of these myths so that people involved with their use can be informed and accurate.
"We expect these drugs to behave in horses as they do in other species," he said, but that is not a certainty. In all he does, Tobin strives to reduce misinformation. He seeks the scientific data. He calls it, "Applying the methods of science vigorously" to these questions.
He may not know the answer to a drug-related question when first asked, but like Kentucky's weather, give him a day (in the cosmic sense) and that'll change.
A scientist in the purest sense, he looks for answers. If called upon to interpret them, he will, and in a most scholarly manner. But, if asked merely for "the facts, just the facts" he will with equal adroitness, present them and leave the application to others.
From the first time he stepped off a plane and saw the lush, rolling landscape of Kentucky, Tobin knew when he arrived. The greenness reminded him of his Irish homeland. The people here have received him openly. He and his wife, Marysia, are often guests of prominent horse people and it isn't uncommon to see his ever-present smile in social event press photos.
Calling Lexington and the Blue-grass a "mid-western, semi-Southern with the overlay of the University and the horse world" area and the "international center of the horse industry," Tobin seems to have found his niche.
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