A New Leash on Life for Pets with Cancer

This year, an estimated 6 million dogs and nearly 6 million cats will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States.

Connecticut-native and UCONN alumnus Ashley Kalinauskas is working on a new, personalized treatment that offers new hope for pet owners and helps their animals fight the disease. On Wednesday, May 15th, Kalinauskas will talk about this revolutionary new treatment at the Talcott Mountain Science Center's 'On the Shoulders of Giants' lecture series.

Determined to use her passion for the sciences to help others, Ashley founded Torigen Pharmaceuticals. A startup that resulted from Ashley's graduate thesis project at the University of Notre Dame and now operates out of UCONN's Technology Incubation Program in Farmington, Torigen focuses on providing veterinary cancer care solutions for companion animals.

According to The Veterinary Cancer Society, cancer is the leading cause of death in 47% of dogs, especially dogs over age ten, and 32% of cats. Torigen’s first product uses the patient’s own tumor cells to create a personalized treatment to fight the cancer. With over 50% of companion animals over the age of 10 dying from cancer and with other treatment modalities being both expensive and having negative side effects, Torigen offers an innovative new treatment that is quickly gaining traction with veterinarians across the country.

The public is invited to attend the presentation on Wednesday, May 15th at the Talcott Mountain Science Center, 324 Montevideo Road, Avon, CT, to learn more about this novel approach to treat veterinary cancer. The event begins at 6:30pm. Tickets are $10 for General Admission; $8 for TMSC Members.

RSVP online at tmsc.org or call 860.677.8571.