Head and shoulders image of Dr. Chris Bigland, Professor and Head of Veterinary Microbiology and founding Director of VIDO.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Christopher Hedley Bigland was born in Calgary on 15 October 1919. He received his DVM from the University of Toronto in 1941. This was followed by a Doctor of Veterinary Public Health from the University of Toronto in 1946 and an MSc in physiology from the University of Alberta in 1960. Dr. Bigland became a member of the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan in 1964 with his appointment as Professor and Head of the Department of Veterinary Microbiology. In 1974 Dr. Bigland became the first Director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO) and remained in that post until his retirement in 1984. Dr. Bigland died in Saskatoon in 2005 at age 86.

Looking northeast at the J.S. Fulton Lab.

Bio/Historical Note: The Virus Laboratory Building was constructed from 1947-1948, and was designed by the architectural firm of Webster and Gilbert. It was located on what is now a grassy area in front of the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. The construction of the building was financed with proceeds from the sale of the equine encephalomyelitis vaccine. The disease equine encephalomyelitis, more commonly known as "sleeping sickness," first appeared in Saskatchewan in 1935. It recurred in 1937 and 1938, when it killed an estimated 13,000 to 15,000 horses. The vaccine was developed by Dr. Fulton in the late 1930s while he was still head of the Veterinary Sciences Department, and was first sold by the University in 1939. While commercial production companies in the United States were selling a similar vaccine for $1.80 per dosage, the University undersold them at 75 cents – which accounted for all the funding available for construction. Dr. Fulton also demonstrated that a human disease previously diagnosed as non-paralytic poliomyelitis was in fact caused by the same virus, at which time he produced a vaccine for humans. Demolition of the J.S. Fulton Virus Laboratory was completed in 1989.

Dr. Christopher H. Bigland, dean, Western College of Veterinary Medicine, and Dr. George Khachatourians, professor, Department of Applied Microbiology & Food Science, are seated holding the American patent on bacterial mini-cells developed by the Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO).