From left, Joel Sanneman, Xiaorong Shi, Rhonda Steele, Dave Hoffman and Nick Hemphill were chosen as recipients of the CVM Staff Council's Commitment to Excellence Award.

From this group of nominees, eight awardees were honored and presented with one of three different awards at an all-college staff luncheon.

The luncheon was hosted by the CVM Staff Council, who represent all unclassified and university support staff in the college. Established in 2017, one of the main priorities of the Staff Council was to acknowledge staff members for their contributions to the college’s mission.

Drs. Katie Reif, Raghu Amachawadi and Chuck Dodd celebrate the successful nomination of Sun Johnson for the Culture, Collegiality and Compassion Award.

Gina Scott, computer information specialist and chair of the Staff Council, said one way the council chose to promote staff is through a Staff Awards program, which was launched in 2018.

“The purpose of the staff awards is for us to take the opportunity to recognize the hard work of our CVM staff,” Scott said. “It gives us a chance to say thank you and that we appreciate their contributions to the college. Recognizing the accomplishments of others brings a sense of family to our college. Part of the awards include a cash prize to confirm our commitment to supporting our people.”

“As we enter our second year of Staff Council Awards, it is evident this initiative will become a time-honored tradition,” said Dr. Bonnie Rush, dean of the veterinary college. “It is a pleasure to honor our hard-working and committed staff, and we intend to continue the Staff Council awards for many years.”

Randy Juracek receives a surprise visit from Dean Bonnie Rush, who located him in the VHC to present the High Five Award.

The award categories are High Five Award; Culture, Collegiality and Compassion Award; and Commitment to Excellence Award. Nominations can be submitted by any faculty, staff or administrators in the college, but must be accompanied by at least two letters of support.

“It is important for everyone to look around and see the good that is being done by the people you work with and to take the time to acknowledge that,” Scott said. “All of those that are nominated receive the packet that was submitted for the nomination. To read what others have to say about what you do is very uplifting. Winning is great, but if you have been nominated, you should consider yourself a winner.”

Late to the ceremony, but not overlooked, Gina Jensen was the sixth overall recipient of the Commitment to Excellence Award, shown here with Dr. Kate KuKanich, who nominated Gina for the award.

The recipients are as follows:

High Five Award: Randy Juracek, radiation therapy technologist. Presented to an employee who has gone above and beyond in enhancing one or more components of the College of Veterinary Medicine's mission of Exceptional Teaching, Impactful Research, Outstanding Service and Extraordinary Graduates.

Culture, Collegiality and Compassion Award: Sun Johnson, custodial specialist. Presented to an employee who enhances a feeling of belonging for all of the College of Veterinary Medicine and creates a more inclusive environment while enhancing the College of Veterinary Medicine's mission of Exceptional Teaching, Impactful Research, Outstanding Servic and, Extraordinary Graduates.

Commitment to Excellence Award: Presented to six employees who have gone beyond in enhancing one or more components of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s mission of Exceptional Teaching, Impactful Research, Outstanding Service and Extraordinary Graduates.

Recipients:

Nick Hemphill, radiologic technologist in the Veterinary Health Center.

Dave Hoffman, recruitment coordinator and advisor to the CVM ambassadors.

Joel Sanneman, confocal facility manager in the department of anatomy and physiology.

Xiaorong Shi, research assistant in the department of diagnostic medicine/pathobiology.

Rhonda Steele, project assistant in the Veterinary Diagnostic Lab.

Gina Jensen, junior surgery laboratory manager in the department of clinical sciences.

From left: Colin Stoy, technician; Dr. Lance Noll, senior scientist; Elizabeth Porter, lab manager; Dr. Jianfa Bai; Ying Wang, Ph.D. candidate; Junsheng Dong, visiting scholar; Nanyan Lu, bioinformatician; and Cong Zhu, pre-DVM student; Dr. Xuming Liu, research assistant professor.

“The traditional gold standard STEC detection, which requires bacterial isolation and characterization, is not amenable to high-throughput settings and often requires a week to obtain a definitive result,” said Dr. Bai, section head of molecular research and development in the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL). “We believe the new digital PCR detection method developed in this study will be widely used in food safety and inspection services for the rapid detection and confirmation of STEC and other foodborne pathogens,” said Dr. Jamie Henningson, director of the KSVDL.

When ingested through foods such as ground beef and vegetables, STEC can cause illnesses with symptoms including abdominal pain and diarrhea. Some illnesses caused by STEC may lead to kidney failure and can be life-threatening.

“Some E. coli strains do not produce Shiga toxins and thus do not affect human health as much,” said Dr. Xuming Liu, research assistant professor. “Because cattle feces and ground beef can contain harmless or less pathogenic E. coli along with STEC, the most commonly used PCR cannot identify pathogenic E. coli strains in a complex sample matrix.”

The new dPCR test was developed for research and food safety inspections that require shorter turnaround and high throughput, without sacrificing detection accuracy.

“While the current, commonly used testing method is considered to be the gold standard, it is tedious and requires many days to obtain results that adequately differentiate the bacteria,” said Dr. Gary Anderson, director of the International Animal Health and Food Safety Institute at the K-State Olathe campus.

The study, which describes the test design and results, is titled “Single cell-based digital PCR detection and association of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli serogroups and major virulence genes.” It was published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and currently can be accessed at https://jcm.asm.org/content/early/2020/01/02/JCM.01684-19.

Funding for this study was provided by the Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, and no extramural funding was used. The digital PCR technology for co-detection and association of multiple genes is covered by US Patent No. 10,233,505 assigned to the Kansas State University Research Foundation with the principal investigators Drs. Bai, Liu, and Anderson.

From left: Congrui Zhu, Kamrul Hasan, Dr. Philip Hardwidge, Dr. Samir El Qaidi and Kristina Eichhorst.

“Bacterial pathogens interact with cells in their infected mammalian hosts by using what microbiologists call a type III secretion system, or T3SS, to inject virulence proteins into host cells,” Dr. Hardwidge said. “In some strains of E. coli, the proteins that are secreted by the T3SS help the pathogen combat the host’s immune system and contribute to diarrheal disease. Previously, the T3SS effectors were thought to be inactive within the bacterium and only function in the host cells. While performing mass spectrometry experiments in collaboration with Dr. Nichollas Scott at the University of Melbourne, Australia, we unexpectedly obtained data suggesting that one of these T3SS effectors might actually be active within the bacterium.”

“I’m really proud of the work performed by Dr. El Qaidi,” Dr. Hardwidge said. “He took advantage of an unexpected observation, designed several clever experiments to test hypotheses about what might be happening, and conducted technically challenging bacterial genetics and biochemical experiments to confirm this new activity.”

Dr. Hardwidge said he and Dr. El Qaidi also investigated the same effects in Salmonella and C. rodentium, which are other bacteria that cause intestinal infections and diarrhea.

“We believe this is the first example of a T3SS effector functioning within both the bacterium and within the host cell,” Dr. El Qaidi said. “This is important because it causes us to rethink whether this group of proteins has additional function beyond what has been classically studied. We now wish to understand both the extent to which the example we discovered might be common to other T3SS effectors in other organisms and also explore how these proteins may affect important aspects of bacterial physiology."

The project was supported by grant number AI127973 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to Dr. Hardwidge and by National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) project grants (APP1100164) to Dr. Scott. Dr. Hardwidge’s team also collaborated with Dr. Brian Geisbrecht in the K-State Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics.

Andrew Curtis and Dr. Hans Coetzee helped develop the new vaccination method, which comes in the form of an ear implant.

“Currently, the most common strategy to control anaplasmosis is to provide mineral containing the antibiotic chlortetracycline to cattle on pasture. This practice has raised concerns about the potential emergence of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria that may pose a risk to human and animal health,” said Andrew Curtis, doctoral graduate research assistant in the laboratory of Dr. Hans Coetzee, professor and head of the anatomy and physiology department. “Although there is an experimental vaccine available to control anaplasmosis, this has not been evaluated in published research studies and requires multiple injections.”

The objective of the study was to develop a single-dose implant platform that provides long-term immunity against anaplasmosis infections by releasing vaccine contents over an extended period of time.

This new single-dose vaccine, which is administered in the back of the ear, has been shown to provide protection against clinical anaplasmosis for up to two years, and could potentially help make anaplasmosis control more accessible and convenient to livestock producers.

The study, titled “Rapid Communication: Development of a subcutaneous ear implant to deliver an anaplasmosis vaccine to dairy steers,” is published in the Journal of Animal Science. It can currently be accessed at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31889177

New research at Kansas State University examines the potential risk for transmitted swine disease viruses through the importation of feed exposed to transpacific shipping conditions. Stock image by Vidar Nordli-Mathisen on Unsplash.

“Both viruses are endemic to areas of the world where feed ingredients are manufactured and imported into the United States each year.”

Currently, US commercial swine are negative for both CSFV and PRV after costly eradication programs were completed in 1978 and 2004, respectively. Dr. Niederwerder said reintroduction of these viruses into US swine herds would be devastating and that there are concerns that feed ingredients incorporated into swine diets may serve as new “fomites,” or sources, for the spread of animal diseases of economic and welfare significance. Recent changes in PRV strain virulence and CSFV geographic distribution are of great concern for these trade-limiting diseases.

“The emerging threat of CSFV and PRV being reintroduced into US commercial swine is significant and preventing entry is critical for the US pork industry,” Dr. Niederwerder explained. “The route of introducing and transmitting swine viruses through feed has been recognized since the 2013-2014 outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. However, the stability of CSFV and PRV in imported feed ingredients had yet to be investigated.”

Dr. Niederwerder and her colleagues published the first report of CSFV and PRV stability in feed ingredients subjected to different environmental conditions mimicking transpacific shipment. Overall, both viruses survived for the length of the 37-day model in feed, with PRV having increased stability across a broader range of feed ingredients when compared to CSFV.

Dr. Niederwerder said PRV was detected in nine of the twelve tested ingredients: conventional and organic soybean meal, lysine, choline, vitamin D, moist cat and dog food, dry dog food, and pork sausage casings at the conclusion of the simulated voyage. When looking at CSFV, two of the twelve ingredients had infectious virus detected: conventional soybean meal and pork sausage casings.

“This study reports novel data about environmental stability of CSFV and PRV in feed and includes important quantitative information that can be incorporated into risk models for preventing the potential spread of CSFV and PRV through imported feed ingredients,” Dr. Niederwerder said. “This information adds to our previous work on African swine fever and reinforces the concept of feed biosecurity for disease prevention.”

This research was conducted at Kansas State University’s Biosecurity Research Institute, a BSL-3 facility that allows safe and secure research with animal diseases foreign to the US, in collaboration with other university and industry contributors. Co-authors on the manuscript include Ana Stoian, Vlad Petrovan, Laura Constance, Matthew Olcha, Maureen Sheahan and Bob Rowland with Kansas State University; Scott Dee, Pipestone Veterinary Services; Diego Diel, Cornell University; and Gil Patterson, Lincoln Memorial University.

Funding for this study was provided by the Swine Health Information Center and the State of Kansas National Bio and Agro-defense Facility Fund. The full article, “Stability of classical swine fever virus and pseudorabies virus in animal feed ingredients exposed to transpacific shipping conditions,” is now published online in the journal Transboundary and Emerging Diseases.

Calves need to nurse their mothers soon after they are born to maximize the immunity passed along in that first milk.

Trying to determine when to offer assistance to the cow/calf pair was a discussion topic among BCI experts during a recent podcast, available online. The chief concern is getting the colostrum into the calf within the first few hours after it is born.

“Colostrum is the first milk that the calf gets from its mother that contains a lot of immunity to set it up for the first four to five months of life,” said Dr. Brad White, veterinarian and BCI director. “As soon as the calf starts drinking, it has 12-24 hours to absorb the colostrum before his gut closes.”

As to when to intervene, the experts had a difference of opinion. “If I don’t observe a first calf heifer allowing her calf to nurse in the first two to four hours, I will get involved by helping,” said Bob Weaber, beef cattle extension specialist and BCI expert.

He added: “My goal is to get at least one quart of colostrum into the calf. After milking out the cow, I offer it to the calf through a bottle and if that doesn’t work, I use an esophageal tube feeder to deliver it.”

Dr. White prefers to follow a less aggressive approach by observing calf behavior over the course of 24-48 hours. “I am not going to intervene until the calf tells me it is not thriving, by walking with its head down or trying to nurse off of other cows,” he said.

He added that if he does intervene, his goal is to gather the milk from the calf’s dam rather than using colostrum supplementation. Dr. White said the immunity in the colostrum comes from the proteins in the dam’s milk and that milk from beef cows is more nutrient dense than that of dairy cows (which is what most colostrum supplements consist of). So, with supplementation of dairy colostrum, White said the supplementation goal is to provide two quarts.

Both experts agree that the quantity and quality of the colostrum produced by the cow has a direct correlation to the dam’s body condition score.

“A cow in good body condition will have the nutrition she needs to make the proteins to pass on the immunity to her calf,” Dr. White said.

He also stressed the importance of calving in a dry, clean environment.

“The immunity is only as effective as the challenges we put it under, so if the calf is born in a mud lot, the cow’s udder may be covered in mud and that will give the calf a high pathogen challenge when it tries to nurse,” Dr. White said.

If supplementation is ultimately necessary, Dr. White and Weaber agreed that getting the milk delivered to the calf at the correct temperature is critical.

The goal is feeding it at a temperature of 100 degrees, Weaber said. Dr. White adds: “It is best to warm up the milk in a hot water bath. If you microwave it, you will destroy a lot of those proteins.”

Dr. White and Weaber offer these five tips:

• Maintain cows in good body condition to maximize the quality and quantity of the colostrum they produce
• Develop herd immunity by following a vaccination schedule
• Ensure cows have a dry location in which to calve
• Have an intervention plan in place for colostrum supplementation
• Keep intervention equipment such as a bottle or esophageal tube feeder on hand

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