January 2018
The Board of Directors of the American Kennel Club Canine Health
Foundation, Inc. (CHF) awarded a grant to us for our proposal:
“Evaluation of a new vaccine for canine brucellosis.” This is
amazing news. This grant will support us in continuing our work on
this valuable process!
Thanks to all who participated in getting this done, especially
Sankar and Daniel!
December 2017
Participation in the Brucellosis Society
Meeting
Our students did a great job sharing their projects and
experiences at the International Brucellosis Society Meeting in
Chicago, IL, USA (Dec 1-3, 2017), which is a satellite of the
Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases – CRWAD. The
research shared by our students is listed below:
1) Intratracheal inoculation of the guinea pig
as an improved aerosol model for Brucella melitensis
infection (Martha Hensel, oral presentation)
2) Towards the development of a live
attenuated vaccine for canine brucellosis (Lauren Stranahan,
poster)
3) NOD-scid IL2rγnull mouse as a model to
study Brucella-induced osteoarticular disease (Omar
Khalaf, poster)
Manuscript published (feral swine
brucellosis)
An important research article was published this month in the
Zooneses Public Health Journal based on our work in the detection
of Brucella spp in feral swine, in partnership with USDA and APHIS.
In this study, Brucella spp were cultured from 13% of the feral
swine samples taken at two federally inspected abattoirs. These
results demonstrate the potential risk of these animals spreading
the disease, which was underestimated by the conventional serology
tests. The manuscript, titled “Identification of Brucella spp. in
feral swine (Sus scrofa) at abattoirs in Texas, USA,” can be seen
here
November 2017
Congratulations to our student, Lauren Stranahan, for winning
first place in the “Young Investigator Award in Diagnostic
Pathology” category for her poster, “Rhodococcus equi
Infection in Goats: Characterization of Virulence Plasmids,” which
was presented at the American College of Veterinary Pathologists
Annual Meeting held in Vancouver, B.C., Canada on November 4-8,
2017
October 2017
Reciprocal Visit Uganda
We spent more than one week in Uganda, East Africa to complete
the reciprocal visit under the Fellowship Program: Brucellosis
Strategies and Coping Methods with our fellow, Dr. Peter Oba
(from Uganda). During the visit, we helped Dr. Oba improve his
skills and make adjustments based on the local settings and
identified key gaps in the area of research, veterinary
diagnostics, and vaccine production that could be strengthened
through mutual collaborations.
In regards to building collaboration, we met with
representatives of National Agricultural Research Organization
(NARO), the Commissioner of Veterinary Regulation and Enforcement
Department of Animal Health, National Animal Diseases Diagnostics
& Epidemiology Centre (NADDEC), Makerere University- College of
Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources & Biosecurity (COVAB),
and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Kampala,
among others.
Additionally, we joined the fellow in attending the
4th Global Health Security Agenda High Level Ministerial
Meeting in Kampala, Uganda where he: gained a better understanding
of global health issues (specifically in Uganda), enrolled as a
member of the Next Generation Global Health Security Network
(NGGHN), and established important networking connections for
potential future collaborations in his career.
American Society for Microbiology
Seminar
Congrats to our students for their participation in the American
Society for Microbiology Texas Branch Seminar held October 19-21,
2017 at Texas A&M University. Here are the fantastic and
interesting research topics shared by our students:
1) Regulatory T cells and Brucella
colonization at the feto-maternal interface of allogeneic pregnant
mice (Adetunji Shakirat, poster presentation)
2) OD-scid IL2rγnull mouse as a model to study
Brucella-induced osteoarticular disease (Omar Khalaf,
poster presentation)
3) Kinetics of intratracheal aerosol
inoculation in a guinea pig model for Brucella melitensis
infection (Martha Hensel, oral presentation)
We are also excited to announce Martha Hensel won Best Oral
Presentation by a Graduate Student!! Congratulations Martha and to
all the students for their great presentations!
August 2017
A warm congratulations to our PI, Dr. Arenas, along with her
partners, Dr. Carlos Rossetti and Estefania Maurizio from the
Pathobiology Institute in Argentina, for the publication (PLoS Negl
Trop Dis) of their article, “Caprine brucellosis: A historically
neglected disease with significant impact on public health,” this
month. You can access it by clicking here
April 2017
Our student, Shakirat Adetunji, received the “John Paul
Delaplane Award” by the College of Veterinary Medicine &
Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University in recognition for
her “outstanding interest and aptitude towards research in
infectious diseases of poultry or livestock.”
Great job Shakirat!
February 2017
Great news! Two of our students were awarded $5,000 to support
their research projects under a call for proposals, “College of
Veterinary Medicine Graduate Student Research Trainee Grant,” by
Texas A&M University. Here are the proposals that were
awarded:
1) The Role of Regulatory T Cells in
Brucella-induced Abortion in the Goat (Capra
hircus) Model (Shakirat Adetunji)
2) NOD-scid IL2rγnull mouse as a model to
study Brucella-induced osteoarticular disease (Omar Khalaf)
Fantastic job everyone! Congratulations!
January 2017
Peter Oba, coming from the National Agricultural Research
Organization (NARO), Uganda, started to build capacities in our lab
under the Borlaug Fellowship Program: "Brucellosis Strategies and
Coping Methods in Uganda”. Welcome Peter to our lab!
November 2016
The review article:"Human brucellosis and adverse pregnancy
outcomes" was approved for publication and its "Hot Topic" with 161
downloads in one month! Congratulations Dr. Arenas on leading this
process, definitely an important contribution in this area! Click
here to access this publication.
October 2016
Was a pleasure having Juana Liz Vidal, MSc student from
Universidad de Antioquia, in our lab. It was a very short visit but
very intense and productive. Juana got trained in cell culture and
other techniques and performed in-vitro killing assays to
investigate host-pathogen interaction. This activity enhanced
the research collaboration between Universidad de Antioquia and our
research group. Thank you Juana for your visit and good luck with
your thesis!!
September 2016
The manuscript: "Reticulo-ruminal milk accumulation (ruminal
drinking) in five pre-ruminant white-tailed deer (WTD;
Odocoileus virginianus) in Texas", was approved for
publication. Our PhD student Shakirat Adetunji is the first author
on this article! Cheers!
July 2016
Welcome to our summer internships coming from University of
Georgia (Katherine Anne Franc) and University of
Lincoln (Dr. Tumen Wuliji and Mikel Thompson)! They
are supported by the IAAD Veterinary Student Internship Program and
the Summer Research Team Program for Minority Serving Institutions,
respectively. We are very glad to have you here and we will
enjoy exchanging experiences with you!!
From the bench to the shop!
An exciting, interdisciplinary and unique training program
entitled : "From the bench to the shop: Transitioning High
Consequence Livestock Disease Research and Development Technologies
for Commercialization", has been recently approved and
sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Science
and Technology Directorate. This important educational
program offers the opportunity to earn a training certificate in
Scientific Business Development and Management with emphasis in
transboundary animal diseases (TADs). For more information
please visit our specific website or flyer
February 2016
Great news! our Formula Animal Health research proposal:
"Efficacy studies of a brucellosis vaccine for domestic and
feral swine" was selected for funding. Now we can continue
toward the development of a vaccine brucellosis in pigs! Thanks to
our partners in Colorado State University (Dr. Bowen and team) to
be part of this important proposal!
The manuscript: "The case for live attenuated vaccines
against neglected zoonotic bacterial diseases". in which Dr.
Angela Arenas is Co-author, has been accepted for publication in
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Congratulations to Dr. Aseem
Pandey for his publication.
November 2015
Dr. Isaac Mengele received his certificate of completion after a
great presentation of his work! Congratulations to him! We will
keep working together developing collaborative research efforts
focused on the control and prevention of brucellosis and other
infectious diseases.
We have officially began our project to test the safety and
efficacy of a vaccine candidate in goats. Work will be conducted at
the Instituto Nacional de Tecnologia Agropecuaria - INTA in
Argentina. Dr. Carlos Rossetti, a brucellosis expert, and
his team members, will be key players in this success. We look
forward for a productive and long-lasting collaboration. In the
photo: Dr. Winston Morris, Bioq. Mariana Dunleavy, Lic. Flavia
Hasenauer, Dr. Estefania Maurizio, Dr. Carlos Rossetti, Dr. Angela
Arenas and Dr. Lucas Vagnoni
October 2015
Its our pleasure to have Dr. Isaac Mengele coming
from Tanzania in our lab as part of the professional exchange
training program, Borlaug Fellowship. Welcome Dr. Mengele! it will
be great sharing knowledge and experiences with
you!
September 2015
We just submitted a manuscript entitled: "Brucellosis
seroprevalence and risk factors for abortion in dromedary camels in
a pastoral area of Borana, Ethiopia" to the Journal of
Infection in Developing Countries - JIDC. Great inter-institutional
effort with our partners in Ethiopia to get this done!
Our student worker, Lance Wheeler has officially
started Vet school, congratulations to him and we wish him the very
best!
August 2015
On August 2015 the Canine Health Foundation awarded us the
grant: "Development of a brucellosis vaccine for dogs"
an important project that will help us to step forward in the
development of this vaccine and contribute to companion animal
health, part of our mission!
April 2015
This year our PI received the "Outstanding Young Faculty
Award" in recognition of her outstanding record of extramural
funding and high-impact research publications.
Congratulations to her and all the team!
Click here to see picture
