Faculty with Regional Interest

Ireland - Chair, External Scientific Advisory Board, Reproductive Biology Research Cluster Group, University College Dublin and collaborator on functional genomics of uterus and conceptus during the peri-implantation period of pregnancy in dairy and beef cattle. I spend 3 to 5 days per year at University College Dublin reviewing programs and planning experiments. Personnel from UC Dublin visit Texas A&M University to learn techniques in my laboratory.

Republic of Korea - serves as part-time as a professor in the WCU Program in Biomodulation that is in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Seoul National University and director of the Laboratory of Reproductive Biology. (Please contact Dr. Bazer for more information regarding his role here.)

Costa Rica Biomedical Sciences program This program provides required "core" courses and key electives for students working towards a degree in Biomedical Sciences along with Pre-Meds, Pre-Vets, and others from any major who want to take a semester abroad while still advancing their degree plan. Students will receive an in depth introduction to Costa Rican and Latin American health, conservation, culture, and nature, then learn and use Spanish through a combination of classes and home stays. Immunology and Physiological Chemistry will be taught with a "Latin flavor" to show how these sciences are applicable to Costa Rica and the world outside the classroom. Students will engage in many field trips to national parks, schools, beaches, clinics, markets, zoo, etc to learn about the health and conservation issues facing Latin America today.

Amazon Field School ABS Field School in the Peruvian Amazon introduces students to the social and biological realities of conservation and research in Latin America. Students have firsthand investigation into key resource management systems, and apply conservation research techniques. Students complete case studies of important resources found in lowland tropical forests of southeastern Peru. Students interact with a mix of native peoples, colonists, conservation organizations, loggers, gold miners, and eco-tourism experts.

Brazil: Interest in the presence of pathogenic Borrelia species in sinantropic bats in Paraná, Brazil. Our research team will be acquiring blood and tissue samples from bats as well as ecto-parasites feeding on those bats to analyze the presence of pathogenic Borrelia. Our collaborators in Brazil have found Borrelia spp in bats blood and they are interested in determine whether those Borrelia species are pathogenic for humans and life stock, due to the high density of bats in that particular area, and the impact they can have on human and veterinary health.

Mexico: Study of Lyme disease in Center and Northern Mexico. During the Mid 1990’s there was a number of Lyme disease cases diagnosed in Central Mexico, and the numbers have been increasing considerably during the past few years. Our collaborators are scientist and physicians at the Pediatric Hospital in the Centro Médico Nacioal SXXI (IMSS) The objectives of this project are to analyze the expression of selected Borrelia-virulence markers associated with European and US borreliosis in tissues of potential reservoirs and vectors (ticks), and to determine regions of high-risk for Lyme disease in Mexico. The rationale is: we have documented B. burgdorferi infection in Mexican patients with clinical manifestations similar to those reported in both, US and Europe (Mexico diagnostic reference laboratory, unpublished).

Spain: Study of Membrane proteins of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. Our collaborator is at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the University of Valencia. Their expertise is in the study of hydrophobic domains of proteins and the study of their topology when associated to membranes.

• Worked intermittently in China from 1983-1985 serving as a visiting professor at Beijing Medical University (now Peking University Health Science Center).
• From 1996-2007 coordinated the US aspect of a program to teach biomedical writing and editing at leading health science centers in China and other Asian countries. Over the years has supervised 20 faculty members, interns, and visiting scholars from China
• Each summer at Texas A&M gives a 3-week intensive course in research writing, mainly for researchers from outside the United States.
• Main international involvement at present consists of serving as knowledge community editor for AuthorAID at INASP (www.authoraid.info), a project that helps researchers in developing countries to write about and publish their work.
• Main contributor to AuthorAID blog, oversees the AuthorAID resource library, and gives workshops in developing countries

The Veterinary International Leadership Program (VILP) is a four year international studies program for students in the veterinary professional curriculum. VILP is an educational partnership between Texas A&M, Tufts, and the University of Padova. Each year, twenty veterinary students are selected for the program: 8 incoming vet students to TAMU, 4 incoming vet students to Tufts, and 8 first year vet students at the University of Padova. These students attend six week workshops each summer for the first three years of the program and then complete clinical assignments during the fourth summer. The schedule for these workshops is as follows: First Summer - Physiology Workshop in College Station, Second Summer - General Pathology Workshop in Padova, Third Summer - Public Health and Food Safety Workshop in Padova, and Fourth Summer - Clinical Assignments in College Station.

BIMS Study Abroad - Biomedical Science majors have the opportunity to take three courses while studying in Padova, Italy. Eight to ten undergraduates are selected for this 6 week study abroad program. Courses offered include: Biomedical Physiology I (VTPP 423), Pharmacology (VTPP 425), and Famous Italian Medical Scientists (VTPP 485). BIMS students will attend lectures (labs) with first year and second year veterinary students at the University of Padova. BIMS students will be required to return to Texas A&M University at the end of the six weeks and complete the final four weeks of the Biomedical Physiology I course.

• Collaborates with researchers at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Nairobi, Kenya in areas of diagnostics and vaccine development of African swine fever an d East Coast fever.
• Collaborates with researchers at the Laboratorio de Inmunología, Centro de Investigación en Alimentación y Desarrollo in Sonora, Mexico trying to develop an effective vaccine against Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
• Collaborates with researchers at the Instituto de Virología, Buenos Aires, Argentina in developing an effective vaccine against Foot and Mouth Dissease
• Collaborates with researchers at The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK in the area of vaccine efficacy enhancement

• Serving on a PhD jury in France
• Serving on the Examination Committee of the European College of Bovine Health Management held in Germany.
• Previously I spent 2 sabbaticals in France and helped with a study abroad course in Germany.

Peru: The college has two formal agreements (Convenios) with the main Peruvian Veterinary Schools. Heredia Cayetana and San Marcos. Both commit us to collaborate in the area of avian research and conservation. There are multiple collaborative projects underway in Tambopata, in investigating the wild bird trade and in studying the epidemiology of selected avian diseases.

Argentina: The Schubot Center is supporting a project to determine causes of nestling mortality in the Patagonian subspecies of the peregrine falcon.

Canada: The Schubot Center is collaborating with scientists at the University of Guelph on the detection of avian bornavirus in arctic waterfowl.

The Veterinary International Leadership Program (VILP) is a four year international studies program for students in the veterinary professional curriculum. VILP is an educational partnership between Texas A&M, Tufts, and the University of Padova. Each year, twenty veterinary students are selected for the program: 8 incoming vet students to TAMU, 4 incoming vet students to Tufts, and 8 first year vet students at the University of Padova. These students attend six week workshops each summer for the first three years of the program and then complete clinical assignments during the fourth summer. The schedule for these workshops is as follows: First Summer - Physiology Workshop in College Station, Second Summer - General Pathology Workshop in Padova, Third Summer - Public Health and Food Safety Workshop in Padova, and Fourth Summer - Clinical Assignments in College Station.

BIMS Study Abroad - Biomedical Science majors have the opportunity to take three courses while studying in Padova, Italy. Eight to ten undergraduates are selected for this 6 week study abroad program. Courses offered include: Biomedical Physiology I (VTPP 423), Pharmacology (VTPP 425), and Famous Italian Medical Scientists (VTPP 485). BIMS students will attend lectures (labs) with first year and second year veterinary students at the University of Padova. BIMS students will be required to return to Texas A&M University at the end of the six weeks and complete the final four weeks of the Biomedical Physiology I course.

Brazil: research collaboration on river buffalo genomics

China: research collaboration on goat genomics

South Korea: research in genetics of innate immunity in food animals at Seoul National University. Teaching graduate courses in 'Genes and Function' and 'Biomodel Development'

In China: Collaborative research with scientists at various institutions and projects (e.g., Zhejiang University, Hangzhou; China Agricultural University, Beijing; China CDC, Shanghai; Hunan Agricultural University; China Veterinary Research Institute, Lanzhou; Jilin University, Chuangchun)

In Mexico: Collaborative research with scientists at Center for Research and Advanced Studies, PN, Mexico City.