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NEWS
CVM Honors Outstanding Investigators During CVM Research Day
The University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine held its annual Research Day on May 5 in Adams Conference Center and the Bond Life Sciences Center. Students across different disciplines presented and were acknowledged for their outstanding research. Professor and VHC Director Gerelyn Henry, DVM, MBA, DACVP, gave the keynote address: “The Power of Translational Research.” The 2023 award winners for poster and oral presentations, along with their mentors, follow: Veterinary Professional Students First (Oral Presentation) – Paige Isensee, Mentor: Pamela Adkins First (Poster) – Stephanie Lopez, Mentor: Nicole Nichols Second (Oral Presentation) – Austin Kimes, Mentors: Rajiv Mohan and…
Occludin Protein Plays Key Role in Spread of Coronavirus Throughout Body’s Cells
Finding by University of Missouri researchers gives insight into how the virus spreads throughout the human body, may help development of antiviral drugs. While the coronavirus continues to infect people around the world, researchers at the University of Missouri have identified a specific protein inside the human body that plays a critical role in how the virus spreads from cell to cell after infection — a discovery that will help better understand the COVID-19 disease and could lead to the development of new antiviral drugs in the future. The finding provides new insight into how the protein, known as the…
Picking Awarded $3.8 Million Grant by NIAID
Wendy Picking, PhD, a professor of veterinary pathobiology at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine and a recent Mizzou Forward hire, recently secured a $3.8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The grant will fund development of a vaccine to prevent colonization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a hospital-acquired infection that occurs after intubation or catheterization. This pathogen has become resistant to many of the antibiotics used to treat it, and there are no new antibiotics in the pipeline. Picking says the resistance to antibiotics has created the need to develop a vaccine. “Pseudomonas aeruginosa…
Doubling Her Efforts
Researcher, animal-lover and academic dynamo Katherine Meiser completes the first step of her dual-degree dream. Katherine Meiser earned her undergraduate degree at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., the nation’s preeminent school for the deaf. So, as she recounts her scholastic journey to the University of Missouri and graduate school, her hands tell the story via American Sign Language with graceful clarity. But when she found herself at an academic crossroads in 2015, the way forward wasn’t as clear. She loved biology (her undergraduate major), research and — as the owner of two dogs, two cats, two snakes and an iguana…
Feline Genetics Help Pinpoint First-Ever Domestication of Cats, MU Study Finds
Cat genes reveal how invention of agriculture bonded cats with people in ancient Mesopotamia, leading to worldwide feline migration with humans. Nearly 10,000 years ago, humans settling in the Fertile Crescent, the areas of the Middle East surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, made the first switch from hunter-gatherers to farmers. They developed close bonds with the rodent-eating cats that conveniently served as ancient pest-control in society’s first civilizations. A new study at the University of Missouri found this lifestyle transition for humans was the catalyst that sparked the world’s first domestication of cats, and as humans began to travel…
BREATHE Easy: VHC Internal Medicine Specialists Launch New Clinic
In March 2021, Steve Kasper’s 9-year-old beagle mix, Spirit, began refusing to go on her daily 4-mile walk. Suddenly, Spirit was easily getting winded. Based on her clinical picture and the appearance of her lungs on radiographs, her veterinarian suspected the dog had contracted a fungal infection and referred Kasper, of Battlefield, Missouri, and Spirit to the MU Veterinary Health Center. Aida Vientós-Plotts, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, assistant professor of small animal internal medicine, ran a series of diagnostic tests on Spirit including a computed tomography (CT) scan of her chest. Based on those findings, she suspected that the dog had…
‘Click’ Chemistry May Help Treat Dogs With Bone Cancer, MU Study Finds
The scientific discovery, which recently earned a Nobel Prize in chemistry, may efficiently deliver radioactive cancer treatments to tumors while reducing side effects. In September, researchers from California and Denmark were awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of ‘click’ chemistry, a process in which molecules snap together like LEGO, making them a potentially more efficient transportation device in delivering pharmaceuticals to cancer tumors. Now, in a recent study, a researcher at the University of Missouri has successfully shown for the first time how click chemistry can be used to more efficiently deliver drugs to treat tumors in…
Monkeypox Mutations Cause Virus to Spread Rapidly, Evade Drugs and Vaccines, MU Study Finds
Researchers show how monkeypox mutations cause virus to replicate, spread faster. Monkeypox has infected more than 77,000 people in more than 100 countries worldwide, and — similar to COVID-19 — mutations have enabled the virus to grow stronger and smarter, evading antiviral drugs and vaccines in its mission to infect more people. Now, a team of researchers at the University of Missouri have identified the specific mutations in the monkeypox virus that contribute to its continued infectiousness. The findings could lead to several outcomes: modified versions of existing drugs used to treat people suffering from monkeypox or the development of…
Longhorned Tick Discovered in Northern Missouri for First Time, MU Researchers Find
Discovery indicates looming problem for cattle health in the Midwest. The Longhorned tick causes the loss of millions of dollars in agricultural revenue to cattle producers worldwide, and it is now in northern Missouri. Originally found in eastern Russia and the Australasian region, this tick was first found in the United States in 2017 in New Jersey. It has since reached the Mid-Atlantic, New England and Midwestern regions of the U.S., and now has been discovered in northern Missouri for the first time by researchers at the University of Missouri. Last year, the Longhorned tick was found in the southern…
Prenatal Opioid Exposure May Trigger Neurological, Behavioral Changes Later in Life
MU study links changes in gut bacteria to prenatal exposure to oxycodone, a commonly abused opioid during pregnancy. While infants exposed to opioids during their mother’s pregnancy have been linked to adverse health outcomes, a new study at the University of Missouri has found prenatal opioid exposure could trigger long-term neurological or behavioral effects later in a child’s life. The key is the opioid’s impact on the developing fetus’ gut microbiome – a collection of bacteria and other microorganisms that naturally live inside the guts of all humans and animals and can serve as a barometer for overall health and…
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