This award is from the research project grant program R01 at the National Institutes of Health.

Besides this NIH R01 grant, Dr. Xiong’s work in Parkinson’s disease is also supported by an NIH K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award and several awards from well-recognized foundation agencies including Parkinson’s Foundation Stanley Fahn Junior Faculty award, Willam N. and Bernice E. Bumpus Foundation Innovation award, and American Parkinson’s Disease Association (APDA) research grant.

"According to the National Institutes of Health, 1 million people in the United States are suffering from Parkinson's disease," Dr. Xiong said. "Unfortunately, there is no cure or proven therapy for this disease."

Parkinson's disease is recognized as the most common movement disorder affecting up to 1% of the population above the age of 60 and 4-5% above the age of 85.

"The cardinal symptoms of the disease are caused by the loss of brain cells — called dopaminergic neurons — in the midbrain and deficits in the striatum, which is the area of the brain that controls motor function and reward systems," Dr. Xiong said.

Mutations in the Leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 gene, or LRRK2, account for up to 40-50% of Parkinson's disease in certain populations and are the most known common causes for the disease, Dr. Xiong said.

"Given its strong genetic links and compelling drug ability, LRRK2 represents a clear target for therapeutic development," she said. "But how the function of LRRK2 is regulated in Parkinson's disease is poorly understood."

The objective of Dr. Xiong's study is to answer that question. Her group will first identify and characterize the key regulator for the LRRK2 gene, then determine how it regulates LRRK2 cellular function, and explore how this regulation affects LRRK2 function in striatum and related motor function in mammalian model systems.

"We believe new knowledge about this aspect of LRRK2 biology will advance our understanding of the physiologic and pathophysiologic actions of LRRK2," Dr. Xiong said. "We hope it leads to the potential identification of novel targets for future pharmacologic intervention and treatments for Parkinson's disease.

Cochran Fellows tour the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, in Riverdale, Maryland. From left to right: Dr. Justin Kastner, Tricia Amedee, Ezra Ledger, Charis Auguste-Powell, Catherine Johnson, Carl Edwards, Adam Scheinkman, Carla Schwan and Danielle Preskitt.

Its goals include helping eligible countries to develop their own agricultural systems that meet the food needs of their populations, and to enhance their trade relationship with the United States.

Dr. Justin Kastner, associate professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology, led the trip to several sites alongside Dr. Jessie Vipham, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences and Industry.

“The Cochran Fellowship is a wonderful opportunity for K-State to engage with professionals from around the world, and to have the opportunity to learn about the challenges they face and the opportunities that exist,” Dr. Vipham said.

The KSU team pauses for a picture with the Caribbean Cochran fellows at the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park north of Miami. Pictured, L to R, are: Gabriela Boccatto (KSU graduate student); Justin Kastner (KSU faculty member); Carl Edwards (Grenada); Francis Noel (Grenada); Jessie Vipham (KSU faculty member); Carla Schwan (KSU graduate student); Jim Stack (KSU faculty member); Katheryn Gregerson (KSU undergraduate student); Charis Auguste-Powell (St. Lucia); Valentina Trinetta (KSU faculty member); Catherine Johnson (Grenada); Tricia Amedee (St. Lucia); and Ezra Ledger (St. Vincent and the Grenadines).

This year’s group of Fellows included regulatory and trade officials from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and St. Lucia.

“Fellows participated in a combination of events in Washington, D.C.; Manhattan and Kansas City, Kansas; St. Joseph, Missouri; and multiple places in Florida,” Dr. Kastner said. “We facilitated a variety of meetings with policy and regulatory officials from the likes of the USDA, FDA, APHIS, CBP and FAS.”

Carla Schwan, Ph.D. student in food science and main teaching assistant for the trip, presented lectures and led discussions with the Fellows.

“The goal of this program is about providing experiences and knowledge, and sharing past and future objectives with the country you’re helping, in terms of trade and regulations in food policy and safety,” Carla said. “In the case of exports, we see how they comply with regulations in order to import or export to the US and how to be successful in that sense. So, we are creating or improving that relationship if there is not already one established.”

In St. Joseph, Missouri, the Fellows toured a pork processing facility, where they met with a meat scientist in charge of quality assurance and learned how to create a product in compliance with USDA regulations.

The Fellows also visited Woodyard BBQ in Kansas City, Kansas for a group dinner and food safety lecture from Dr. Danny Unruh, a former Ph.D. student under Dr. Kastner.

Tours in Florida encompassed the produce and seafood side of food safety, with visits to a tomato packing house and to Seafarers, a high-tech seafood processing operation that uses HPP, or high pressure processing.

“When we were at Seafarers, it was processing crab meat,” Carla said. “How this works is through gigantic equipment filled with water and small containers of crab meat. Because of the amount of water that is inside, the pressure that is created against the crab meat destroys any pathogens. The amount of water put into the tank is equivalent of 24 elephants standing on top of those little containers.”

Other guest speakers from K-State included Dr. Valentina Trinetta, assistant professor in animal sciences and industry, Dr. Jim Stack, professor of plant pathology, and Drs. Abbey Nutsch and Sara Gragg, associate professors in the Food Science Institute.

The past five Cochran trips led by Dr. Kastner and CVM faculty have included Fellows from Thailand, Egypt, Central America and East Africa.

Ezra Ledger, Tricia Amedee and Charis Auguste-Powell discuss food safety at a meeting in Mosier Hall.

Dr. Eilene Minnix (right) presents the 2019 Distinguished Service award to Dr. Lalitha Peddireddi.

Dr. Peddireddi earned the award for her outstanding service to the Kansas veterinary profession. She provided testing for foreign animal diseases during investigations of a potential outbreak. It was noted that regardless of what time of day or what day of the week the samples arrive at her lab, she and her staff immediately completed the testing to provide the results to the veterinarians as fast as possible.

Dr. Peddireddi’s research focus is to develop and validate PCR-based molecular diagnostic assays for use in routine diagnostic setting to detect veterinary pathogens and those of zoonotic importance. Her special interest lies in development of molecular-based detection assays to identify vector-borne veterinary pathogens.

In addition, she works on molecular diagnostic projects in collaboration with industry partners. These projects are primarily intended to develop and validate real-time RT-PCR based assays to diagnose a variety of veterinary pathogens including those of zoonotic potential.

Cattle and swine health are the focus of three new research grants in the CVM supported by the USDA's Agricultural Research Service.

The first grant is titled “Evaluation of Novel Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Vaccine Candidates with Broad Breadth of Protection - Phase II,” by Dr. Juergen Richt, Regents distinguished professor and director of the Center of Excellence for Emerging and Zoonotic Animal Diseases.

“Simulation Modeling of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Outbreaks in Livestock in the U.S.” is led by Dr. Mike Sanderson, professor of epidemiology and associate director of the Center for Outcomes Research and Epidemiology. “Actions Supporting the Development of an African Swine Fever Virus Live Attenuated DIVA Vaccine,” is under the direction of Dr. Jishu Shi, professor of vaccine immunology.

Both Dr. Sanderson’s and Dr. Richt’s research focuses on foot-and-mouth disease, or FMD, a disease primarily affecting livestock production in many regions of the world, including much of Asia and Africa.

“Foot-and-mouth disease is a high-priority transboundary disease that would severely impair livestock health and production if introduced to the U.S.,” Dr. Sanderson said. “The goal of this research is to model outbreak and control scenarios in the U.S. to improve preparedness and identify optimal disease response strategies to mitigate the impacts of a potential FMD outbreak.”

Drs. Mike Sanderson, Jishu Shi and Jürgen Richt.

Because FMD virus is antigenically diverse, Dr. Richt emphasized how vaccines must be matched to target certain viral isolates in order to be effective.

“The objective of this research project is to support the development of novel FMDV vaccine candidates and determine their immunogenicity in its natural host,” Dr. Richt said. “It will also contribute to generate new knowledge on next generation FMDV vaccines, with broader activity that will ultimately help to prevent and control FMD.”

Dr. Shi’s research is centered on the development of control strategies against African Swine Fever Virus, or ASFV, a threatening swine disease that has become a major issue in China and other Asian countries.

"The collaboration with USDA ARS is a valuable partnership for us in ASF vaccine research and highlights the importance of the K-State Biosecurity Research Institute as a key facility for K-State researchers working on high-consequence animal diseases,” Dr. Shi said. “It will strengthen our capability in research that will be related to the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) and provide new impetus for our long-standing partnership with USDA ARS research scientists."

The two objectives of Dr. Shi’s project are: the development of accompanying “differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals,” or DIVA, tests for the ASFV live attenuated DIVA candidate developed by the ARS, and the development of a stable cell line supporting the replication of those vaccine candidates.

Dr. Roman Ganta speaks at the 2nd Asia Pacific Rickettsia Conference in early November.

The meeting focuses on rickettsiae and rickettsial diseases, a major cause of illness in humans and animals throughout the world, including in the Asia-Pacific region.

Dr. Ganta, who is director of the Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases, or CEVBD, presented his research, “Rickettsia rickettsii whole-cell antigen vaccine offers protection against virulent pathogen infection challenge.”

“I interacted with scientists attending the conference from various parts of the world, particularly those working on a disease of importance to Asia Pacific region, scrub typhus, which is caused by the chigger-borne rickettsial pathogen, Orientia tsutsugamushi,” Dr. Ganta said. “Scrub typhus is an important disease with high fatality rates in people, and it is of great concern for the U.S. military personnel stationed in Asia-Pacific regions.”

Dr. Roman Ganta visits with students at Kasetsart University.

Afterward, Dr. Ganta visited Kasetsart University to discuss collaboration on mutual research interests with Dr. Sathaporn Jittapalapong, dean of faculty of veterinary technology.

"Dr. Jittapalapong is an internationally recognized researcher whose research focus is also on tick-borne diseases of importance to companion and agricultural animals," Dr. Ganta said. "He works on the development of anti-tick vaccines for use in Thailand and other research areas of mutual interest at the Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases."

Dr. Ganta also gave a lecture to faculty, scientific staff and students on his current research, "Mutagenesis in Ehrlichia and Anaplasma species aids in studies focused on pathogenesis and vaccine development."

Dr. Angela Baysinger from Merck and Dr. Cia Johnson from the AVMA (far right) present the third-place award to the K-State team consisting of third-year student Gemma Isermann, and second-year students Ron Orchard, Emily Eppler, Cassandra Kroncke.

The species assessed were: broiler chickens, laboratory zebrafish and captive African painted dogs. Additionally, the teams completed a live assessment of a slaughter facility.

“[The contest] gave us an opportunity to develop critical thinking, evaluation and public speaking skills utilizing scientific data when assessing and presenting on the scenarios,” Gemma Isermann said, second-year student and participant on the veterinary student team. “On top of that, the networking with my coaches, teammates and the judges at the event was amazing!”

Twenty-five schools competed in the contest, and in the veterinary student division, the Kansas State University veterinary student team took third place.

“This is a huge accomplishment for us and demonstrates the commitment and dedication our students have at this college and how important the topic of animal welfare is,” said Dr. Abbie Viscardi, research assistant professor and the teams’ coach. “I could not be prouder of this group of students!”

After having a successful competition, Dr. Viscardi said the teams wanted to leave an impact that would emphasize the importance of animal welfare beyond a competitive setting, so they donated to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to support African painted dog conservation in the wild.

Our undergraduate team speaking with Dr. Temple Grandin. From left to right: FRONT- Abby Dercher, Maggie Yuille, Bree Hargis, Kylie Perez; BACK- Brad Hill, Casey Allen (somewhat hidden), Tessa van Buren.

According to the Beef Cattle Institute, managing feed and health costs while optimizing marketing strategies are keys to success.

Stocker cattle are typically newly-weaned calves weighing between 300 and 800 pounds. They are often co-mingled with other calves and developed on a forage-based system with some feed supplementation before moving to the feedlots for finishing.

“Successful stocker operators do a good job of buying and selling the cattle, while keeping them healthy at an effective cost of gain,” said K-State veterinary medicine professor Bob Larson.

In respect to the markets, agricultural economist Dustin Pendell advises stocker operators to follow a buy low, sell high strategy. “There are a lot of considerations to include such as pricing inputs, output price and marketing strategies,” he said. “Producers need to have a risk management strategy when purchasing inputs and selling calves.”

Once the cattle arrive, identifying the appropriate feedstuffs is also going to be key to an operator’s success, according to Larson. “It is not just pricing feed on a per pound of feed basis, but looking at how much growth can come from that feed source.”

For some operations, it may be more cost effective to calculate a slower rate of gain by feeding a forage-based diet, and for others more feed supplementation may be needed to provide adequate nutrients for a faster gain.

K-State Research and Extension cow-calf specialist Bob Weaber also said there is another reason for supplementation. “Following a higher rate of gain may also allow operators to meet a marketing window due to the seasonality of feeder calves,” he said.

Along with market price considerations and feeding strategies, the experts agreed that it is vital to follow a health protocol for the calves.

“It is important to establish a logical plan of first and second treatments,” Larson said. “The veterinarian is going to help select an antibiotic that is a good match for the bacteria that is causing the disease.”

Another part of the plan is to outline treatment frequency, and establish a second protocol for those that don’t respond to the initial treatment.

Larson stressed the importance of sticking with the treatment plan. “This is a protocol. Treat every animal the same so we can evaluate if this protocol is working,” he said.

More information on this topic is available on a weekly podcast produced by the Beef Cattle Institute.