ElkTracks: Summer 2024
Discovery of novel treponeme bacteria
Discovery of novel treponeme bacteria
Elis Fisk is pursuing a doctorate in the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine’s Combined anatomic pathology residency and PhD program as he investigates a phenomenon called acquired tick resistance in the lab of Dr. Dana Shaw in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology.
The funding will help identify and track respiratory pathogens in the Pacific Northwest, including avian influenza virus.
Cameron Coyle is pursuing a PhD in Immunology and Infectious Diseases as she explores innate immune memory in the American deer tick, which is of major public health concern as it transmits Borrelia burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme disease) and Anaplasma phagocytophilum (the causative agent of human granulocytic anaplasmosis). She is being mentored by Dr. Dana Shaw, an assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology.
Since joining the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine in 2016, Dr. Kyle Taylor has dedicated his career to advancing wildlife disease research and welfare. His extensive research portfolio includes studies on elk hoof disease, moose mortality, bighorn sheep pneumonia, and diseases affecting bile-farmed Asiatic black bears.
Dr. Chris Akinsulie is pursuing a PhD in Immunology and Infectious Diseases under the mentorship of Dr. Susan Noh in the College of Veterinary Medicine. His research could help to identify vaccine candidates to protect cattle from Anaplasma marginale, a common tick-borne bacteria that can cause disease and death in herds.
Moose populations have been dwindling for years across the country due to many factors, but new WSU research has found the impact of the arterial worm has likely been underestimated.
A WSU-led study has found the some of the world’s deadliest bacteria seek out and feed on human blood, a phenomenon researchers are calling “bacterial vampirism.”
Allan Pessier has been named the recipient of the 2024 Luminary Award by the Northwest Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation.
Graduate student Albina Makio is studying how the infectious herpes simplex virus invades the cells of its host. It is research that could ultimately lead to new treatments and vaccines to target the virus, which is present in nearly half of the world’s population.