CVM awards $60,000 for seven Resident/Graduate Student Research Grants

CVM’s Resident and Graduate Student Research Grant funding provides support for resident research and offers graduate students the opportunity to develop a new line of research related to their funded thesis work. In particular, the Office of the Associate Dean for Research encourages all CVM resident and graduate student researchers to consider this annual opportunity to engage in research to improve animal health and advance the missions of the CVM’s research initiatives. 

This year’s funding was distributed to 7 individual projects through a competitive application process only open to CVM residents and graduate students. Read about the 2023 funded projects below. Congratulations to the awardees!

Lexi Frank (primary mentor: Peter Larsen, VBS), “Pathogen surveillance and discovery in peridomestic vampire bats associated with an indigenous community in Guyana, South America”

Zoonoses originating from wildlife are a persistent threat to the global One Health community, as nearly 75% of emerging infectious diseases are associated with wild reservoirs. In particular, bats (comprising approximately 25% of all mammal species) are known to harbor a wide variety of zoonotic pathogens, including Ebola, Marburg, Nipah, Middle Eastern Respiratory virus, Rabies, and SARS. However, there is a lack of data from the Neotropics on zoonoses from bats.  Specifically, Desmodus rotundus (common vampire bat) is an obligate blood feeding bat capable of transmitting pathogens among its prey: wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. Therefore, this project’s objective is to characterize the viral diversity in peridomestic D. rotundus in an indigenous community in Amazonia.

Fernanda Fumuso (primary mentor: Roberta O'Connor, VBS), “Characterization of the direct effect of TartrolonE on Toxoplasma gondii viability, morphology and infective capacity”

Toxoplasmosis is a worldwide zoonotic parasitic disease with a 30% incidence in humans, which is also the most frequent opportunistic infection in immunodeficient HIV/AIDS patients. Moreover, immunocompromised people and pregnant women have the highest risk to develop severe infection. Current available therapies are not effective for the human risk population, so new therapeutic resources are needed to treat neurological and congenital toxoplasmosis. Therefore, this project aims to elucidate the direct effect of the natural antiparasitic compound TartrolonE (trtE) against Toxoplasma gondii, by evaluating the direct effect of TrtE on T. gondii structural morphology, membrane integrity and infective capacity.

Maria Granello (primary mentor: Jenna Young, VPM), “Postoperative peritoneal fluid analysis in horses following exploratory celiotomy for non-strangulating gastrointestinal lesions”

Colic is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in horses. A useful diagnostic and prognostic tool in evaluating horses experiencing colic is peritoneal fluid analysis. Peritoneal fluid values in horses that have undergone surgery to correct a non-strangulating gastrointestinal lesion are not yet established and would help guide clinicians in their decision making for horses experiencing recurrent colic. This pilot study’s objective is to characterize and

determine the variability of the peritoneal fluid changes that occur postoperatively in horses following surgical correction of naturally-occurring, non-strangulating gastrointestinal lesions. This objective will be pursued by collecting and analyzing peritoneal fluid samples from horses experiencing colic due to non-strangulating gastrointestinal lesions both before surgery, and at 3 different points in time after surgery.

Nuttha Hengtrakul (primary mentor: Jody Lulich, VCS), “Differentially expressed genes and pathways associated with renal mineralization in feline kidneys”

Renal mineralization can cause nephrolithiasis and increased risk of developing worsening chronic kidney disease (CKD). In addressing this issue, naturally occurring animal models are essential to better understand the pathways for pathological mineralization. Cats can serve as excellent models for studying renal mineralization, as they develop similar phenotypes as humans with CKD and kidney stones. This project aims to determine if a cellular-regulated process involving osteogenic differentiation is the cause for feline renal mineralization. In pursuit of this objective, RNA sequencing will be used to determine if osteogenic genes and mineralization-inhibiting genes are differentially expressed between calcified and non-calcified kidney tissue.

Colleen Hickey (primary mentor: Erin Wendt-Hornickle, VCS), “Evaluation of an opioid-free anesthetic protocol on the incidence of gastroesophageal reflux in isoflurane-anesthetized dogs”

Gastroesophageal reflux (GER) affects as many as 60% of anesthetized dogs and is a precursor to regurgitation, aspiration, esophagitis, and esophageal stricture formation. Opioids are thought to contribute to GER due to effects on gastric emptying and lower esophageal sphincter tone. This project will examine  whether an opioid-free anesthetic protocol will reduce the formation of GER in anesthetized dogs compared to an opioid-containing protocol. Esophageal pH will be monitored continuously throughout anesthesia with a special probe placed at induction and removed during recovery. Baseline cortisol levels will also be collected as part of an observational study to investigate a linkage between stress and GER.

Nicole Schlette (primary mentor: Daniel Heinrich , VCS), “Cytologic features of hepatocellular masses in dogs”

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common hepatic neoplasm of dogs and carries a median survival time of less than one year without treatment. Cytology is often utilized to prioritize differentials, but cannot distinguish HCC from benign hepatocellular lesions. Both HCC and these benign lesions are collectively referred to as masses of hepatocellular origin (MHO). Differentiating HCC from benign MHOs would provide diagnostic and prognostic information for practitioners and owners. Therefore, this project’s objective is to define the utility of cytology in differentiating HCC from benign MHOs. This project aims to achieve this by examining and scoring 10 cytologic features across all 4 MHOs, as well as by determining the cytologic utility and reproducibility by creating a novel algorithm that differentiates HCC from benign MHOs.

Phoebe Strell (primary mentor: Walter Low, VBS), “Generation and characterization of exogenic microglia-like cells”

Sixty to eighty percent of all dementia cases are Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Recently, microglial dysfunction has been implicated in AD pathogenesis by creating toxic reservoirs of protein aggregates, mediating synapse loss, worsening tau pathology, secreting toxic factors that injure neurons, and expressing identified AD risk genes. Blastocyst complementation offers a method to generate exogenic cell types, like microglia-like cells, for cellular replacement therapy for AD. By developing exogenic microglia-like cells via blastocyst complementation, we will have a novel therapy for treating AD. Therefore, this project’s primary objective is to characterize exogenic microglia-like cells in complemented PU.1 KO mice through immunohistochemistry and spatial genomics. A secondary objective is to assess whether complemented PU.1 KO mice microglia are comparable to wild-type mice microglia.