Congratulations to four Comparative and Experimental Medicine graduate students and their professors who received fall 2023 Student Faculty Research Awards (SFRA). Formerly known as Graduate Student Research Awards, SFRA are used to advance the scholarship of graduate students and faculty working in partnership. Grants up to $5,000 are awarded to the selected student/faculty pairs and are intended to help support student research, scholarship, and creative activity; give students experience writing grants; and foster the mentoring relationship between faculty and graduate students.
The UT Graduate School shared the information below:
A pilot study to characterize immunogenic proteins from Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma platys
Swetha Madesh—PhD student, comparative and experimental medicine
Sree Rajeev—professor, Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences
Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma platys are two pathogens that spread through ticks. These pathogens cause severe life-threatening illnesses, such as kidney problems and neurological issues, if the disease is untreated. There are no vaccines available to control these diseases. Swetha Madesh, a PhD student in comparative and experimental medicine, and Sree Rajeev, professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, have the long-term goal of developing protective vaccines against these pathogens. The primary objective of Madesh and Rajeev’s study is to identify and analyze ten promising potential peptide epitopes common to Ehrlichia canis and Anaplasma platys. The aim is to evaluate their potential use as a vaccine or diagnostic candidate.
Pilot in vitro mouse tubuloid model for studying host-pathogens interactions
Bryanna Fayne—master’s student, comparative and experimental medicine
Sree Rajeev—professor, Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences
Leptospira
Leptospirosis, caused by the numerous species and strains of the bacteria Leptospira, is a major worldwide disease passed by animals to humans, causing severe human morbidity and mortality. This disease is an underrecognized health and environmental problem worldwide, and it affects some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Pathogenic Leptospira colonize the renal tubules of mammalian hosts and evaluating Leptospira-host interactions at the renal tubular level will improve knowledge of the process of by which Leptospira promotes disease. Bryanna Fayne, a master’s student in comparative and experimental medicine, and Sree Rajeev, professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, will develop a renal tubuloid system grown from collected healthy mouse cortical kidney tissues. This tubuloid system will provide an alternative in vitro model to study Leptospira compared to the traditional animal models. This study will lead to an optimized protocol for preparing a tubuloid system to use in future studies using Leptospira.
Loggerhead sea turtle health in a warming world
Samantha Gammon Kuschke—PhD student, comparative and experimental medicine
Deb Miller—professor of practice, School of Natural Resources
The loggerhead sea turtle is one of the seven species of sea turtles that nest in the continental United States. All loggerhead sea turtle populations are listed as endangered or threatened, due in part to climate change increasing both beach and ocean temperatures. These climactic shifts are negatively impacting loggerhead sea turtle health and therefore survival. Samantha G. Kuschke, a comparative and experimental medicine PhD student, and Deb Miller, professor in the School of Natural Resources, are investigating the relationship between neonatal loggerhead sea turtle health and incubation temperatures, as it relates to climate change. This study will aid in the continued development and refinement of management, husbandry, and conservation techniques for loggerhead sea turtles and increase our understanding of this imperiled and enigmatic species.
A pilot study assessing the potential role of Leptospira in equine recurrent uveitis
Porsha Reed—master’s student, comparative and experimental medicine
Sree Rajeev—professor in biomedical and diagnostic sciences
Equine recurrent uveites (ERU), also known as moon blindness, is associated with Leptospira infection and is the most common cause of blindness in horses. ERU is challenging to diagnose and manage due to varying causes and nonspecific clinical signs or in some cases no clinical signs. Porsha Reed, a master’s student in comparative and experimental medicine, and Sree Rajeev, professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, aim to identify the proportion of horses with Leptospira renal and eye colonization or both. Confirmation of asymptomatic Leptospira colonization in equine eyes and the nature of antibody response will aid in designing future studies to prevent the transmission and apply effective control measures.
Twenty-three outstanding research programs were awarded for fall 2023 across many colleges and departments.
