Immunology & Infectious Diseases

Q&A with graduate student Shannon Allen Whiles

Graduate student Shannon Allen Whiles has been leading research at WSU that could lead to new treatments for a highly infectious bacteria, Francisella tularensis, that can cause severe illness and even death. Shannon recently completed a doctorate in Biomedical Sciences – Immunology and Infectious Diseases, a research-intensive program designed to train students in immunology, host-pathogen interactions, and population biology of bacterial, parasitic, and viral infectious diseases in animals and humans.

Shannon Allen Whiles is pictured in the lab.

Report to Legislature | 2022

In 2017 the Washington State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 5474 to designate WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine as the state lead in developing a program to monitor and assess causes of, and potential solutions for, elk hoof disease. Read the 2022 report to the Legislature providing the most recent developments with the disease.

Cow elk in the wild, looking right at the camera.

Report to Legislature | 2021

In 2017 the Washington State Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 5474 to designate WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine as the state lead in developing a program to monitor and assess causes of, and potential solutions for, elk hoof disease. Read the 2021 report to the Legislature providing the most recent developments with the disease.

From computer to benchtop: WSU researchers find clues to new mechanisms for coronaviruses infections

A group of bat viruses related to SARS-CoV-2 can also infect human cells but uses a different and unknown entryway. While researchers are still honing in on how these viruses infect cells, the findings could help in the development of new vaccines.