On February 19, 2024, Penn Vet announced the launch of the School’s mRNA Research Initiative to fast-track the development of veterinary mRNA-based vaccines and host-directed therapies. The initiative will be led by Christopher Hunter, PhD, founding director of Penn Vet’s Institute for Infectious and Zoonotic Diseases (IIZD). Funding for the Initiative was provided by the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation through the backing of 2023 Nobel Prize winner Drew Weissman, MD, PhD, the Roberts Family Professor of Vaccine Research in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine.
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Casey Maynard, sample resource manager at Penn Vet's Wildlife Futures Program, weighs fecal material from a deer that was infected with chronic wasting disease. These samples will go to Anna Kashina's lab for microbiome analysis. (Image: Brooke Ezzo/Wildlife Futures Program)
Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a transmissible, neurodegenerative disorder in deer that causes an inability to eat, stumbling, drooling, and lack of fear of humans, and in all cases, is ultimately fatal. There is no evidence CWD can spread to humans, but there is concern this could change, as other prion diseases—such as Mad Cow Disease—can spread through the consumption of infected meat.
Through collecting and analyzing fecal samples from animals with and without CWD, a new collaborative study from Penn Vet and other researchers sheds light on how CWD impacts the gut microbiome and provides a potential tool for disease surveillance.
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Respiratory diseases like influenza and COVID-19 drive inflammatory responses that can cause long-term damage to the lungs and can be difficult to treat. Now, by using techniques that deliver mRNA via lipid nanoparticles, researchers led by Andrew Vaughan of the School of Veterinary Medicine were able to greatly enhance modes of repair for damaged blood vessels in the lung, leading to improved oxygen saturation. (Image: iStock/Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeen)
The human body's lungs and vasculature can be likened to a building with an intricate plumbing system. The lungs’ blood vessels are the pipes essential for transporting blood and nutrients for oxygen delivery and carbon dioxide removal. Much like how pipes can get rusty or clogged, disrupting normal water flow, damage from respiratory viruses, like SARS-CoV-2 or influenza, can interfere with this “plumbing system.”
In a recent study, researchers looked at the critical role of vascular endothelial cells in lung repair. Their work, published in Science Translational Medicine, was led by Penn Vet’s Andrew E. Vaughan, PhD. It shows that, by using techniques that deliver vascular endothelial growth factor alpha (VEGFA) via lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), they were able to greatly enhance modes of repair for these damaged blood vessels, much like how plumbers patch sections of broken pipes and add new ones.
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Illustration of fMRI activity in the visual area of a dog brain, inflated to show the sulci and gyri of the brain. (Image: Courtesy of Huseyin O. Taskin)
Using fMRI, New Vision Study Finds Promising Model for Restoring Cone Function
Vision scientists Gustavo D. Aguirre, VMD, PhD, and William A. Beltran, DVM, PhD, from Penn Vet’s Division of Experimental Retinal Therapies (ExpeRTs) have been working for decades to identify the basis of inherited retinal diseases. In the retinas of human eyes, the cones are photoreceptor cells responsible for color vision, daylight vision, and the perception of small details. Drs. Aguirre and Beltran previously showed they could recover missing cone function by reintroducing a copy of the normal gene in photoreceptor cells. A new collaborative study of daylight vision using a canine model, in partnership with researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine’s Department of Neurology, offers a critical insight for evaluating whether these cell replacements are a successful approach for restoring cone vision. Their findings were published in Translational Vision Science & Technology.
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Scientists Shed New Light on the Evolution of Adaptive Immunity in Cold-Blooded Vertebrates
A new collaborative study from the lab of J. Oriol Sunyer, PhD, which was featured on the cover of the journal Science Immunology, reconsiders the understanding of immune responses in cold-blooded species. These findings are critical for the generation of more effective knowledge-based vaccines for fish. Disease and health management problems are one of the major hurdles for the developing aquaculture industry in the US and worldwide. While vaccines delivered to fish have contributed enormously to the near eradication of several fish diseases, many vaccines for a number of old and emerging fish pathogens are inefficient due to our lack of knowledge on how immune responses are generated in these species.
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This year, two research communities led by Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine received funding from the Environmental Innovations Initiative. (Image: iStock/microgen)
Inclusive, Ambitious Research to Meet the Needs of a Changing Planet
This year, two “research communities” led by Thomas D. Parsons, VMD, PhD, and Jenni Punt, VMD, PhD, received funding from Penn’s Environmental Innovations Initiative (EII). For the second year, Dr. Parsons received funding for the Penn Regenerative Ag Alliance, together with Mark Alan Hughes of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy. Dr. Punt received funding for One Health@Penn, with collaboration from Penn Vet faculty members Julie C. Ellis, MS, PhD, and Brittany Watson, VMD, PhD, as well as Hillary Nelson, PhD, MPH, of the University’s Master of Public Health program.
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The PA Farm Show provides the opportunity for hands-on interactions with animals, and Penn Vet faculty, students, and staff who volunteered at the 2023 show fielded many questions from young visitors and their families about pursuing a career working with animals.
By the Numbers: Penn Vet’s Agricultural Impact
The only veterinary school in Pennsylvania and one of the top 10 ranked in the world, Penn Vet has been recognized for excellence in teaching, research, and clinical service for animals across its 139-year history. The school also makes invaluable contributions to the state’s $132 billion agriculture sector through disease surveillance and diagnostic testing to ensure a safe and abundant food supply and through visits to farms to provide care for large animals. Researchers ground their work in the One Health philosophy to improve outcomes for animals, people, and the environment.
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Left to right: Erin DeNardo, Kayla Even, Antonina Kalkus, Philip Hicks, Emerson Hunter, Catherine Brinkley, Sara Hernández Suárez, Lindsay Dwyer, Tiffany Wu, and Shelby Monnin
Penn Vet Student Research Day 2024
Penn Vet’s Student Research Day was held on Friday, March 22, 2024, in the Vernon and Shirley Hill Pavilion. Dr. Elizabeth Woodward led the organizing committee, which included faculty members Drs. Elizabeth Lennon, Michael May, Jennifer Punt, and Phillip Scott; members of the Student Research Club Erin DeNardo and Samantha Lackeyram-Owen; VMD-PhD student Katherine Morucci; and staff member Kathy Kruger.
Dean Andrew Hoffman kicked off the day’s events with an introduction on the topic of “AI vs. PI,” which was an exploration of artificial intelligence (AI) in research and the qualities that principal investigators possess that AI cannot replace. Seven students delivered oral presentations (Kayla M. Even, Sara Hernández Suárez, Shelby Monnin, Lindsay Dwyer, Philip Hicks, Emerson Hunter, and Antonina Kalkus), and 37 posters were presented. Catherine K. Brinkley, VMD, PhD, an alumna of Penn Vet’s VMD-PhD program and associate professor, Department of Human Ecology, University of California, Davis, delivered a fascinating keynote presentation entitled Planning One Health in Policy and Action.
Academic prizes were awarded for three poster presentations (Erin DeNardo, Julia Pascarella, and Tiffany C. Wu), and all seven student oral presentations. This year’s academic prizes for oral and poster presentations were named for Professor Emeritus Richard O. Davies. Faculty judges for the abstracts and posters included Drs. Charles-Antoine Assenmacher, Timour Baslan, Daniel P. Beiting, Leonardo Brito, Ali Nabavizadeh, Kyla Ortved, Wojciech K. Panek, Laurel E. Redding, and Carlo Siracusa.
Student Research Day presentations and photos are available for online viewing.