Penn Vet Faculty Awarded State Agricultural Research Grants in Multiple Areas

In recognition of leadership in agriculture, health, and the environment, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine (Penn Vet) has been awarded several recently announced state agricultural research grants.

The Penn Vet projects will investigate health issues affecting livestock, wildlife, and human well-being, including two designed to study different aspects of avian influenza. They amount to a quarter of the research projects that were awarded funding through this $2.2 million round of grants state-wide.

“Agricultural innovation is a top priority for the Shapiro Administration, and innovation starts with research,” said state Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “Pennsylvania is already committing $20 million to innovation. With these investments into the valuable research taking shape in leading academic institutions like Penn Vet, we’re going to compound on our efforts to keep Pennsylvania agriculture growing, strengthen our economy, and position our Commonwealth as a national leader in agriculture.”

Grants that will explore concerns about avian influenza

One of the grants, totaling over $69,000, will fund two projects studying issues involving avian influenza, a disease that has affected domestic livestock, resulted in human spillover infections and recently caused the large-scale die-offs of wild geese in Pennsylvania as well as some deaths in New Jersey.

In “Risk Factors for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Small Flocks,” Meghann Pierdon, Penn Vet assistant professor of clinical production medicine, intends to study Pennsylvania farms with small poultry flocks, including their biosecurity plans and management practices. The project will employ site visits, biosecurity audits, and a structured questionnaire. Game cameras will also be used to capture bird and rodent activity.

The second avian flu study is “Reconstructing the Origins and Spread of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Viruses Within Live Bird Markets in Pennsylvania” led by Louise Moncla, assistant professor of pathobiology. Through three separate studies, this project aims to “reveal key pathways by which H5N1 viruses are introduced and spread among wild birds, poultry, and markets and evaluate the risk that market amplification may pose to viral adaption,” according to its proposal to the state.

Moncla said she hopes that studying how these viruses are transmitted locally will uncover conserved pathways by which these viruses are introduced and spread in Pennsylvania, and lead to better outbreak prevention strategies. 

The study “Transmission Dynamics of Antimicrobial Resistance Determination Between Minor Livestock and People,” which was awarded $35,097, will look at health-issue crossover between owners and animals like their pet pigs, goats, sheep, and llamas.

“We know that any use of antibiotics can result in antibiotic resistance, but we don’t know the extent to which it happens or if any antibiotic resistance that does develop is transferred to the animals’ owners upon discharge from the hospital,” said Laurel Redding, associate professor of epidemiology and the study’s principal investigator.

The researchers involved in this project believe they will find crossover, and it will be more pronounced if the animal and owner have greater levels of close contact.

“If our hypotheses are validated, we will use our findings to inform evidence-based recommendations for safer contact between hospitalized animals and their owners,” Redding said.

Funding for other areas of explorations

The other Penn Vet research projects are:

“Investigating the Use of Ear Punch Biopsies for Determination of Chronic Wasting Disease Status in White-Tailed Deer” by Michelle Gibison, senior research scientist. This study aims to further the goal of early and accurate detection of a disease the presents a growing threat to deer populations across North America. It was awarded $39,827.

“Artificial Intelligence-Driven Predictive Analytics for Early Detection of Metabolic and Inflammatory Disorders in Dairy Cattle” by Nagaraju Indugu, senior research investigator, and Dipti Pitta, Mark Whittier and Lila Griswold Allam associate professor of ruminant nutrition. The aim of this research project is to decode behavioral signals embedded in rumination patterns to enhance health prediction and feed efficiency in dairy cows. It received a $39,254 grant.

In addition to these research grants, Gov. Josh Shapiro recently invited applications for the second round of funding through Pennsylvania’s $20 million Agricultural Innovation Grant Program. The program’s aim is to support innovative solutions and technologies that bolster agriculture in Pennsylvania.

Last year, in the program’s inaugural round of awards, Penn Vet’s Thomas D. Parsons, Marie A. Moore Endowed Chair, and director of Penn Vet’s Swine Teaching and Research Center, received funding to support his pioneering work in developing more efficient, humane ways to feed pigs. Another local awardee was AgriGates, a Philadelphia firm that is turning technology into a next-generation tool for raising and managing livestock.

Parsons and Daniel Foy, AgriGates’ co-founder and CEO, have formed a partnership that is harnessing advances like AI and machine learning to make new discoveries about swine behavior that will benefit state farmers and impact farming practices.