May 2012

AIV Young Scientist

Dr. Kristy Pabilonia, received a Young Scientist Award for her presentation entitled, "Avian Influenza Virus in Domestic Ducks in West Java, Indonesia" at the 8th International Avian Influenza Symposium.

The 8th International Symposium on Avian Influenza took place at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK from 1 - 4 April 2012. The conference was hosted by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency. The purpose of AHVLA is to help safeguard animal health and welfare and public health, protect the economy and enhance food security through research, surveillance and inspection.

May 2012

Microbiology Undergraduate Researcher Receives ASM Fellowship

Jessica Haugen, Microbiology Major working in Dr. Randy Basaraba's Laboratory, received a highly competitive 2012 American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Jessica will receive a $2500 stipend for her summer research work, and up to $1000 for travel to the 2013 ASM General Meeting in Denver, Colorado.

March 2012

Dr. Mark Zabel selected for Pfizer Award

Dr. Mark Zabel, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology has been selected by the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Research Council as this year's recipient of the Pfizer Award for Veterinary Research Excellence. The purpose of this award is to foster innovative research that furthers the scientific advancement of the Veterinary profession.

Dr. Zabel, whose research area is immunobiology of prion disease, will be the featured speaker at the 2013 CVMBS Research Day Symposium to be held in late January next year.

March 2012

Dr. Edward Hoover Elected to the AAM Fellowship

Dr. Edward Hoover, professor in the department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology, has been elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. Fellows of the Academy are elected annually through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology. The criteria for election to Fellowship are scientific excellence, originality, and leadership; high ethical standards; and scholarly and creative achievement.

This year, 80 microbiologists have been elected to the Fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology. There are over 2,000 Fellows representing all subspecialties of microbiology, including basic and applied research, teaching, public health, industry, and government service.

March 2012

Justin Lee Awarded Fulbright Scholarship

Justin Lee, DVM/PhD graduate student in the VandeWoude Lab, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. The Fulbright Scholar Program is the US government's flagship international exchange program designed to increase mutual understanding between the peoples of US and other countries. Fulbright Scholars are chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential.

Justin's Project, "Development of a Genetic Management Plan for the Endangered Buffon Macaw", will take him to the country of Ecuador. Less than 100 individuals of the Guayaquil subspecies of the Buffon Macaw remain in the wild. At least fifty additional individuals are in captivity. In order to conserve the remaining genetic diversity within this subspecies, which is essential for its future survival, Justin will characterize the genetic diversity among captive individuals and use this information to better inform onging captive breeding and reintroduction strategies.

February 2012

Trainees Earn Top Awards

The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences held their 13th Annual Research Day on January 28, 2012. There were 88 posters and 36 oral presentations at this year's event. Alexa Dickson of the Carol Wilusz Laboratory, received 1st Place for her Basic Oral Presentation entitled, "CELF1-mediated mRNA decay regulates protein secretion and myogenesis and may be impaired in myotonic dystrophy". Brendan Podell of the Randall Basaraba Laboratory, received 2nd Place for his Basic Oral Presentation entitled, "Alterations in the immunopathogenesis of tuberculosis associated with dietary-induced formation of advanced glycation end products". Britta Wood of the Sue VandeWoude Laboratory, received 3rd Place for her Poster Presentation entitled, "Development of microsphere immunoassays for the detection of domestic cat antibodies"

November 2011

MIP Researchers Discover Potential New Target for Treatments

Dr. Mary Jackson and her Laboratory have discovered an enzyme that is critical to the survival and replication of the bacterial pathogen that causes tuberculosis.

The enzyme may become a key target for new drugs that could halt the manifestation of tuberculosis and potentially cut the current treatment strategy of multiple antibiotics given daily for at least six months. The enzyme is an especially important discovery because it is present in both replicating and non-replicating strains of the bacteria, including resistant strains. That's key because non-replicating bacteria are much more difficult to kill with antibiotics, which is one reason treatments for tuberculosis are so long-lasting.

Read the entire Today at Colorado State Article

October 2011

DLAB Director Honored with National Award from AAVLD

Dr. Barbara Powers, Director of the Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories, is the 2011 recipient of the E.P. Pope Award, the highest honor awarded by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.

Dr. Powers has dedicated her entire academic career to Colorado State University, starting as an Assistant Professor and eventually becoming a Full Professor and, in 1998, Director of the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories. She has served on nearly 50 graduate committees and has dedicated herself to advancing the field of veterinary pathology through teaching, research and outreach.

Read the entire CVMBS E-Insight Article

October 2011

Research Looks at Test to Identify Chronic Wasting Disease in Wildlife

A Colorado State University study is developing and evaluating a more sensitive test for chronic wasting disease – including the potential to test for infection in live animals, animal products, and the environment – through a project funded by Denver-based Morris Animal Foundation.

The disease, which affects deer, moose and elk and is related to similar diseases in cattle and sheep, is a primary concern for hunters and wildlife ranchers and now affects wildlife in 19 states, two Canadian provinces and one Asian country.

Currently, CWD can only be identified either by testing brain after an animal is deceased or by surgical sampling and testing lymphatic tissues. While researchers don't know exactly how CWD is passed from animal to animal, CSU scientists discovered that body fluids such as saliva, blood, urine and feces harbor infectious prions. Animals can then be exposed by direct contact with an infected animal or by contact with a contaminated environment.

The test is being researched in collaboration with Dr. Byron Caughey at the National Institutes of Health's Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Mont. Dr. Caughey's laboratory developed the strategy for the study. Dr. Edward Hoover, Dr. Caughey and colleagues will focus first on determining if their proposed test detects prions in body fluids with greater sensitivity, accuracy and faster output than is currently possible.

Read the entire CVMBS E-Insight Article.

October 2011

MIP Research Team Finds Deadly Bacteria Becoming Resistant in New Way

A team of Colorado State University researchers let by Dr. Herbert Schweizer has co-directed a study that found that the organism that causes melioidosis -- and which is considered at top biothreat for potential use in an act of terrorism -- can become resistant to the antibiotic most commonly used to treat it by mutating in a way scientists have never seen before. The study holds important clues for treating melioidosis and for future studies that may help unlock the strategies bacteria use to become resistant to antibiotics.

Melioidosis is a deadly disease if not treated quickly and with the right antibiotic, usually ceftazidime. It is caused by the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei. The bacterium is considered a top biothreat for potential use in an act of terrorism.

Typically, bacteria have been known to mutate or change to become resistant to antibiotics by making a small but effective change in their DNA. Researchers on this project discovered that Burkholderia pseudomallei completely discarded an entire section of DNA to develop resistance to a key antibiotic. This research was prompted when doctors began to notice that a significant number of cases treated with the standard antibiotic ceftazidime did not improve.

Read the entire CVMBS E-Insight Article

September 2011

MIP Pathologists and the "Halls of Truth"

When Travis and Tesla Dougherty, of Firestone, suspected their beloved family dogs had been poisoned in their own back yard, and a local animal hospital couldn't give them any answers, they took the case to Colorado's only Veterinary Diagnostic Lab.

Denver's Channel 7 News told the Dougherty's story in the broadcast, "Colorado's 'Pet CSI' Investigates, Solves Crimes Against Animals". MIP professors Gary Mason and Barbara Powers were highlighted in the story where they described the important investigative work they conduct within the Diagnostic Medicine Center's "Halls of Truth".

June 2011

Dr. Quackenbush Honored as Distinguished Alumnus

Dr. Sandra Quackenbush has received the SUNY Delhi Alumni Association's highest honor, the Alumni of Distinction Award. Dr. Quackenbush received this honor for her dedicated, continued and outstanding contributions to the biomedical field, as well as to the community. Read the entire SUNY Delhi News Release.

May 2011

Celebrate! Colorado State Honors Dr. Jenny Taylor for Instructional Innovation

Dr. Jenny Taylor received the Provost's N. Preston Davis Award for Instructional Innovation at this year's Celebrate CSU Awards Ceremony held on April 26.

This award is presented to a University faculty member in recognition of the use of technology to further or significantly encourage instructional innovation.

Dr. Taylor was nominated for the award because of her proactive approach in finding new tools to supplement lecture courses. She was the first faculty member to use annotation on lecture slides and also the person who took the initiative to research the use of audio recordings of the lecture slides using Camtasia software. The audio is associated with the slides so that students can both view the slides and hear the lecture using CSU iTunes. Because of her success with these new teaching techniques, other faculty have now followed suit and are using the same techniques in their courses.

April 2011

Microbiology Undergraduate Researchers Receive ASM Fellowships

Microbiology Major Alex Emch, and Biochemistry Major, Colleen Lanza are receipients of the 2011 ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowships. Alex works in the Wilusz Laboratory and will receive a $4000 stipend for his summer research work along with $1000 for travel to the 2012 ASM General Meeting in San Francisco. Colleen works in Dr. Randy Basaraba's Laboratory and will receive a $3000 stipend and up to $500 for travel to the 2012 ASM Meeting.

March 2011

MIP Trainees Lead at CVMBS Research Day

The College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences held their 12th Annual Research Day on March 5, 2011. There were over 200 attendees and 105 abstracts presented. Christy Wyckoff, MIP graduate student in the Mark Zabel laboratory won First Place for her Oral Presentation entitled, "Development of a Novel Detection Assay for Chronic Wasting Disease Prions in Soil". Fumihiko Sagawa, MIP graduate student in the Wilusz Laboratory won First Place for his Poster Presentation entitled, "Deposition of the oncoprotein nucleophosmin on mRNAs influences poly(A) tail length and mRNA export"

January 2011

New Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education

On January 12, 2011, Dean Lance Perryman announced that Dr. Sue VandeWoude had accepted his offer to serve as the Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education effective July 1, 2011

Dr. VandeWoude, currently Director of Laboratory Animal Resources, brings a wealth of programmatic experience to the position and will serve as a key member of the college administrative team.

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December 2010

MIP Postdoc Receives $100,000 Fellowship Research Grant

Dr. Alexa Dickson from the Wilusz² Laboratory has received a Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship Research Grant.

Alexa's research is titled, "The role of mRNA stability in myotonic dystrophy".

The MDF, a patient advocacy organization, created this program to encourage and support postdoctoral researchers and to stimulate basic research in the management, treatment and cure of myotonic dystrophy (DM). This multi-systemic disease is considered the most common form of adult-onset muscular dystrophy, affecting approximately 1:8000 people worldwide.

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November 2010

Dr. Patrick Brennan Recognized by Trinity College, Dublin for his Lifetime Achievements

On November 5, CSU University Distinguished Professor, Dr. Patrick Brennan, received an Honor Alumni Award for lifetime achievement from the institution where he received his PhD degree, Trinity College, Dublin University. He was one of only 4 recipients of the award.

The outstanding quality of Patrick Brennan's research, together with his personal dedication to the elimination of leprosy and tuberculosis, is recognized throughout the world.

You can learn more about Dr. Brennan's Laboratory on the Leprosy program website.

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June 2010

Infectious Diseases Studied Among Bobcats, Mountain Lions, and Domestic Cats in Boulder

Dr. Sue VandeWoude is collaborating with other CSU researchers to study how often bobcats, mountain lions, and domestic cats bump into eac other in Boulder.

The scientists are looking for trends between disease dynamics and urban fragmentation among feline species in high-density places such as Los Angeles and Boulder compared to more rural areas. Ultimately, they hope to understand the relationship between urbanization and the prevalence of disease transmission within and between cat species.

Read the entire CSU News Release

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June 2010

MIP Professor's Book a Finalist

Dr. Gerald Callahan's book, Between XX and XY: Intersexuality and the Myth of Two Sexes is a finalist for the Colorado Book Award.

In his book, Dr. Callahan explores the concept of two separate and distinct sexes (male and female) as a social parameter rather than a biological one. He elucidates an understanding of sex and gender variability based not only on chromosomal structure, but genetic disorders and anatomical structures in intersex individuals who are neither male nor female. This is Dr. Callahan's fourth book, following other publications including Faith, Madness and Spontaneous Combustion; Infection: The Uninvited Universe;and River Odyssey: A Story of the Colorado Plateau.

Learn more...

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April 2010

Dr. Erica Suchman Named University Distinguished Teaching Scholar

Dr. Erica Suchman has been named a Colorado State University Distinguished Teaching Scholar. Known for being a tough and innovative teacher on campus and for her involvement in professional organization and on-campus programs that enhance learning for students, Dr. Suchman has previously been recognized many times including receiving CSU's Provost's N. Preston Davis Award for Instructional Innovation and the Best Teacher Award from the Colorado State University Alumni Association. She was also inductee into the George H. Glover Distinguished Contemporary Faculty Gallery for her contributions to undergraduate instruction.

Read the entire CSU News Release.

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April 2010

Student Wildlife Research Garners Fellowship from Morris Animal Foundation

Justin Lee, 3rd year DVM/PhD student in the VandeWoude Lab received a Fellowship Training Grant from the Morris Animal Foundation. This award will support his PhD training involving investigations of host-pathogen dynamics and factors in cross-species transmission in wild felids. The goal of the MAF Fellowship Training Grant Program is to provide salary support for training opportunities for biomedical scientists (veterinarian and/or PhD) committed to a career in companion animal and/or wildlife research.

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April 2010

Microbiology Undergraduate Receives National Science Foundation Award

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program

Microbiology major, Alex Griffith, received the National Science Foundation Award for his work in the VandeWoude Lab on developing diagnostic tests for detection of Feline Leukemia Virus in nondomestic felids. The REU program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the NSF.

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April 2010

Three CSU Microbiology Majors Receive American Society for Microbiology Undergraduate Research Fellowships

Microbiology Majors Erin Breland, Ian Mcmillan, Rebecca Timmons are receipients of the 2010 ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowships. The fellowships provide a summer stipend along with a two-year ASM membership and up to $1000 travel to the 2011 ASM General Meeting. The ASM gives out ~25 of these fellowships nationwide – thus it's truly an impressive feat that MIP undergraduates were able to garner 3 of them! Erin and Ian's research this summer will be conducted in the Schweizer lab under the direction of RoxAnn Karkhoff-Schweizer. Rebecca's research will be conducted in the Wilusz Lab under the direction of Alan Godwin and Jeffrey Wilusz.

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February 2010

James Linden, Professor Emeritus, Works with AgriHouse to Bring Organic Biopesticide to Market

Dr. Linden and Dr. Ken Knutson, associate professor emeritus of the Horticulture and Landscape Architecture department, have helped develop a new eco-friendly EPA-registered biopesticide that can protect pine trees from bark beetles – a major threat in Colorado and across Western states.

Dr. Linden and Dr. Knutson worked with AgriHouse to develop Organic Disease Control, a patented formula that increases the sap produced by pine trees. The increase in sap resin boosts tree resistance to the pine beetles by reducing their ability to lay eggs in pine trees. AgriHouse is actively marketing ODC. Homeowners can apply ODC for less than $1 per tree. The results of the initial case study with the U.S. Forest Service in Louisiana revealed a positive response within 45 days of the first application of ODC to the ground area under pine trees branches.

"We've developed an environmentally friendly product that we believe will begin to address the pine-beetle epidemic across Colorado", Linden said. "The 2008 U.S. Forest Service Study showed the elevated sap output using ODC has the potential to reduce about 37 percent of the pine beetle eggs in treated trees".

Read the entire CSU news release.

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January 2010

Dr. Anne Lenaerts Featured as a Top Woman Innovator in the Tuberculosis Research Field

Stop TB Partnership - World TB Day - March 24, 2010

Dr. Anne Lenaerts' profile is currently featured on the Stop TB Partnership website as part of the Global Plan to Stop TB. Dr. Lenearts is profiled as part of this year's campaign to focus on individuals around the world who have found new ways to stop TB and can serve as an inspiration to others. The site describes Dr. Lenaerts' tuberculosis research, her work with the Mycobacteria Research Laboratory and her progress with finding new drugs that are effective against TB.

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October 2009

Dr. Torsten Eckstein Launches Diagnostic Lab to Help Battle Costly Cattle Diseases

Eckstein Diagnos-tics is looking to help pinpoint a disease in cattle that costs dairy farmers millions of dollars each year.

With an $80,000 small business innovation research, or SBIR, phase one grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Eckstein is focusing on two diseases: Johne's disease and Crohn's disease.

Eckstein is working with local dairy farmers to advance his research in the field of Johne's disease, which is a contagious bacterial disease of the intestinal tract of animals such as cattle. The disease, which can infect an entire herd, costs dairy farmers millions of dollars a year in losses.

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October 2009

Discoveries of Flaws in Tuberculosis Research System Earns Colorado State University Professor an Award for Innovation

Dr. Diane Ordway received a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health

Diane Ordway's discovery of how tuberculosis is studied in laboratory settings across the world may not realistically model many human infections has earned her a New Innovator Award from National Institutes of Health.

The award comes with a $1.5 million grant over five years. Ordway discovered that laboratory strains of tuberculosis used in research programs do not invoke the same response in hosts as current strains of tuberculosis that infect most of the people in the world. Many of these strains of high virulence are resistant to multiple drugs - called MDR-TB strains that are commonly seen in humans - belong to the W-Beijing family of the bacteria that causes the disease.

Read the CSU News Release.

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September 2009

Student's Study of Fluorescent Viruses Within Mosquitoes Garners Fellowship

The American Society for Microbiology selected Christopher Lehmann, a microbiology major, as a recipient of an ASM Undergraduate Research Fellowship. Lehmann's research focuses on how mosquito-transmitted viruses invade and emerge from cells within the mosquito's body, then travel through the mosquito and ultimately flow through saliva into a host through a mosquito bite.

Lehmann is using a gene from the jellyfish which makes a protein that is fluorescent. He has spliced that green fluorescent gene into a mosquito-transmitted virus. Lehmann studies the glowing virus in real time under a microscope with ultraviolet light as it bursts out of mosquito cells and travels through the mosquito's body.

Check out the Today@Colorado State article.

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September 2009

Colorado State University Dedicates New Diagnostic Medicine Center

The new Diagnostic Medicine Center will help Colorado combat animal diseases that could pose a threat to the health and well-being of communities statewide.

The new building is adjacent to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital and is part of the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. It will better enable the university to help monitor the health of animals and wildlife in the state and research new approaches to disease intervention and prevention. It will also serve as a cutting-edge training ground for veterinary students at one of the nation's top-ranked programs.

"The Diagnostic Medicine Center at Colorado State couldn't have been built without the strong support of our state leaders who recognized the value of a facility such as this for monitoring, detecting and preventing diseases that can have a widespread impact on our state's economy," said Colorado State President Tony Frank. "We are proud to partner with the state in providing these essential services to the people of Colorado."

Read the CSU News Release

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July 2009

Foreign Mosquitoes Invading United States Presenting New Health Threats Tracked by CSU

Being a stowaway is risky, but people don't often think of stowaways posing a risk to the health of an entire nation. But since 1986, Chester Moore, a professor at Colorado State University has quietly kept a database of incidents of the worst kind of stowaways -- mosquitoes -- in an effort to ensure that new diseases don't become a threat to the United States.

The database monitors invasions of mosquitoes, often the result of the tiny insect stowing away on imported goods. It may not sound like a significant job until one considers the perspective that mosquitoes infect one billion people and countless animals around the globe each year with diseases and cause millions of deaths. There are more than 3,000 varieties of mosquitoes in the world. Only about 150 of them are native to the United States, yet only a few species carry and transmit certain infectious diseases, and an invasion of non-native mosquitoes can open up a new population to an infectious disease that hasn't been established in that area or country before.

Read the CSU News Release

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May 2009

$100,000 Grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Vaccine research key to preventing spread of infectious diseases, improving global health

MIP has received a $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for an initial year of research. The grant will support an innovative global health research project to develop a vaccine system that attacks the saliva of sand flies to prevent them from spreading infectious diseases like leishmaniasis.

The project, led by William Wheat, Richard Titus and John Spencer, is one of 81 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the second funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries. The grants were provided to scientists in 17 countries on six continents.

Read the Today@Colorado State article.

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November 2008

Research Helps Identify New Bacterium Causing Rare Form of Leprosy

A new species of bacterium that causes leprosy has been identified through intensive genetic analysis of a pair of lethal infections, a research team reports in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.

MIP researcher John Spencer became involved in the discovery in 2007, when a man showed up in a Phoenix health clinic covered with lesions and experiencing sensory loss in his feet. His doctors were mystified as to whether his condition might be caused by a bacterial infection, an autoimmune disease, or a type of cancer. His tissues began to break down, his organs began to fail and, after two weeks in the intensive care unit, the man died. His doctors suspected the man, who was originally from Mexico, died of complications from an aggressive, and often fatal, rare form of leprosy called diffuse lepromatous leprosy with Lucio's phenomenon.

Read the Today@Colorado State article.