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December 2017 - Vol. 12, No. 12

Top Stories

NIFA research awards total more than $1.7 million

Faculty quintet acquires impressive set of grants through Agriculture and Food Research Initiative

Dr. Hans Coetzee works with cattleThe USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) recently announced 39 new research awards totaling $14.3 million to help maintain healthy agricultural animals.

Five awards worth more than $1.7 million in total have been designated to CVM researchers. Funding is provided through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

The awards are:

Plus two more awards that have previously been reported:

Video Feature

Preventing PRRS in Pigs | Aiding Young Piglets by removing CD163

Dr. Raymond "Bob" Rowland has created a way to protect swine offspring from the devastating PRRS virus during reproduction. Learn more about in this month's video.


Video courtesy of Division of Communications and Marketing at Kansas State University.

Cats a Step Closer to FIP treatment

A clinical trial yields promising applications of antiviral compound

Peanut the cat

The numbers are looking good for treating a disease in cats that -- up to now -- has been 100 percent fatal. A field trial is having encouraging results from a treatment involving an antiviral compound developed at Kansas State University and Wichita State University.

Drs. Yunjeong Kim and KC Chang, virologists in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and Dr. William Groutas, a medicinal chemist at Wichita State University, have been collaborating since 2010 on the development of antiviral drugs for important human and animal viruses.

Dr. Susan Moore revises rabies immunology module for World Health Organization

China DVM agreement signing ceremony

The World Health Organization (WHO) has just published a revised version of its module on rabies immunization, thanks to the work of Dr. Susan Moore, director of the Rabies Laboratory at Kansas State University, and Dr. Deborah Briggs, adjunct professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and former executive director and current board member of the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC).

More Headlines

Dr. Brian Lubbers to chair standards committee

Dr. Brian Lubbers

Dr. Brian Lubbers, DVM, PhD, DACVCP, director of clinical microbiology in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, will begin his appointment as the chairholder of the Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute's (CLSI) Subcommittee on Veterinary Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (VAST) in January.

CLSI members and volunteers represent three sectors of the health care field: industry, government, and the health care professions. Representation of the three constituencies is balanced in order to support an open consensus process.

Beef Cattle Institute appoints Patti Dollarhide to lead industry alliances

Patti Dollarhide

The College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University has announced the appointment of Patti Dollarhide as the new director of beef value chain alliances for its Beef Cattle Institute (BCI), which was founded in 2007 to create a professional and educational connection with the beef cattle industry.

Prior to joining the BCI, Dollarhide was employed as the director of food and nutrition services for the Newton (Kansas) Medical Center.

Laura Constance among 10 K-State graduate students to earn honors at Research and the State

Laura Constance

Research on enhancing health for treatment of depression, the influences of parental emotional support on income and well-being during the transition to adulthood, and recovering sustainable resources from a municipal wastewater anaerobic membrane bioreactor at Fort Riley are the focus of some of the winning research presentations by Kansas State University graduate students who were selected to represent the university at the 15th Capitol Graduate Research Summit, Feb. 20, 2018, at the State Capitol in Topeka.

Rabies Testing Lecture

ICCM research drives wheat straw forward as ethanol fuel source

Dr. Zhenzhen Shi and Dr. Majid Jaberi-DourakiWheat grown from the heartland may soon fill gas tanks.Thanks to an international and interdisciplinary collaboration, faculty at Kansas State University's Institute of Computational and Comparative Medicine and bioenergy researchers at Yangzhou University in China have marked a significant milestone for the production of ethanol fuel from wheat.

Their study, "Predictive temperature modeling and experimental investigation of ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting of wheat straw," was recently published in Applied Energy, which is considered the top-tier journal in the field of energy (ranked first out of 58 journals on energy).

Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory hires pathology, parasitology specialists to enhance services and expertise

New KSVDL faculty

The Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (KSVDL) is announcing the addition of a “Fab Five” to its diagnostic team.

Four pathologists and one parasitologist have been hired in recent months to help expand the services provided by the lab.

Regular features

Alumni Events, Development and Continuing Education

VMAA logo The Veterinary Medical Alumni Association organizes alumni receptions at several of the national annual conferences plus continuing education events and more. Updates include a special video profile about DR. William Brown, DVM class of 1971, which was shown at a recent fundraising event hosted by the Development Office.

News Ticker

More activities and accomplishments in the College of Veterinary Medicine:

Drs. Atnje Anji and Meena Kumari workshop

NIH program officials, Dr. Roger Sorenson, the branch chief, and Dr. Shelley Su, program officer, with the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) presented a two-day grant writing workshop Nov. 6 and 7. The workshop was hosted by the Department of Anatomy and Physiology and arranged by Dr. Meena Kumari. The NIH personnel presented updates on all grant mechanisms for students, post-docs, and faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine. A mock grant review session was held to provide training to all the participants. The photos above were taken at the workshop.

Dr. Jishu Shi was quoted in a Nov. 7 article in The Salt, a blog from the NPR Science Desk. The article reported the current effort by the World Health Organization to help cut the use of antibiotics in livestock raised for meat to combat the increase of drug-resistant infections. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/11/07/562535747/who-to-farmers-stop-giving-your-animals-so-many-antibiotics

Dr. Tim Musch has been nominated for Councillor of the American Physiological Society National Council.

Seong-O Choii presented “Spray-based fabrication of polymeric micro- and nanostructures,” at Konkuk University, College of Science & Technology, Chungju, Korea, Nov. 8, and “Microneedle technologies for drug delivery,” at Interpark Bio Convergence Center, Seoul, Korea, Nov. 14.

Dr. Philine Wangemann was invited by Dr Hoa and Dr Griffith to visit the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) to give a talk and discuss future collaboration. Her talk was entitled, “Fluid dynamics in the developing inner ear.”

Dr. Wenjun Ma was invited to give a lecture at 2017 CRWAD meeting in section: NC229 — New Science: Insights for Control of Swine Viral Diseases. The title is: “SIV: The pig a mixing vessel, in vitro and in vivo.”

Dr. Butch KuKanich presented “Modern Approaches to Provide Data to Regulatory Agencies” at the upcoming Regulatory Affairs Seminar at K-State Olathe on Dec. 7.

The Johnson Cancer Research Center has approved funding for the following:

  • Dr. Robert DeLong’s group received a small innovative research award in an IRA application entitled, ““Inhibiting melanoma metastasis with physiological metal oxide nanoparticle RNA conjugates.”

  • Dr. Masaaki Tamura received a one-year award of $21,000 for “Cancer-targeted immunotherapy with PD-L1 inhibitory peptide secretory genes and oncolytic virus for the treatment of lung cancer.” Tamura (PI), Comer (A&P, M-PI), J. McGill (DMP, M-PI), Z. Yang (Biology, M-PI).

  • Dr. Peying Fong will receive funding for an Innovative Research Award proposing to study “LRRC8 channels: a target for potentiation of cancer therapy.”

Congratulations to Dr. Neala Boyer who is now a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (canine and feline). On Nov. 8 she presented at the K-State Olathe continuing education seminar series for area veterinarians. Her presentation was titled, “Vaccine reactions: Understanding reaction severity, how to reduce risks and treatment options.”

Dr. Liz Santschi Dr. Chris Blevins attended the American Association of Equine Practitioners National Convention in San Antonio held Nov. 17-21. He presented at the student chapter advisor meetings. Drs. Bonnie Rush, Susan Moore and Denise Farris presented on the Rabies Expert Panel as part of the sunrise session on Nov. 18. Dr. Liz Santschi (pictured right) presented as a member of the Kester News Hours panel

Dr. David Biller presented a clinical case study to students from both KSU CVM and Sokoine University in Tanzania, South Africa.Dr. David Biller

Dr. Kate KuKanich and Dr. Brian Lubbers were invited to joing a panel on antibiotic stewardship for both food and companion animal health in Washington DC on Jan. 24, 2018, for the first public meeting of the Presidential Advisory Council on Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria (PACCARB) (of which Dr. Mike Apley is a sitting member). They are being asked to share their expertise regarding the potential application of human-focused antibiotic stewardship guidelines to stewardship practices for companion/small and food animals, respectively. They are also encouraged to talk about the overlap between physician and veterinarian provider practices, and what the lessons learned/challenges are in prescribing behavior.

Dr. Bob Rowland was guest editor for a special issue for Veterinary Microbiology “Alternative strategies for the control of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome.” The special issue consists of 14 articles written by experts in PRRS. The final version was recently published. Dr. Rowland also made a presentation for K-State Swine Day: “Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome research update.”

Congratulations to Dr. Michael W. Dryden (right), who was formally presented with the 2017 Microbiologist of the Year by the American College of Veterinary Microbiologists (ACVM) by Dr. Chris Chase, Professor, Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, South Dakota State University, president of the ACVM (American College of Veterinary Microbiology). Banguet in Chicago was held Monday night, Dec. 4. Dr. Michael Dryden with Dr. Chris Chase

Publication Updates

Wallace RM, Pees A, Blanton JB, Moore SM (2017) Risk factors for inadequate antibody response to primary rabies vaccination in dogs under one year of age. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 11(7): e0005761. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005761

Moore, S.M.; Gilbert, A.; Vos, A.; Freuling, C.M.; Ellis, C.; Kliemt, J.; Müller, T. Rabies Virus Antibodies from Oral Vaccination as a Correlate of Protection against Lethal Infection in Wildlife. Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2017, 2, 31. http://www.mdpi.com/2414-6366/2/3/31

M. J. Kim, S. C. Park and S.-O. Choi, “Dual-nozzle spray deposition process for improving the stability of protein in polymer microneedles,” RSC Advances, accepted.

Vergara-Jaque A, Fong P, Comer J (2017) Iodide binding in sodium-coupled cotransporters. J Chem Inf Model. Accepted. http://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jcim.7b00521

Hernández J, Rascón-Castelo E, Bray J, Lokhandwala S, Mwangi W. Immunogenicity of a recombinant adenovirus expressing porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus polyepitopes. Vet Microbiol . 2017 Dec;212:7-15.

Deiss TC, Vadnais M, Wang F, Chen PL, Torkamani A, Mwangi W, Lefranc MP, Criscitiello MF, Smider VV. Immunogenetic factors driving formation of ultralong VH CDR3 in Bos taurus antibodies. Cell Mol Immunol. 2017 Dec 4. doi: 10.1038/cmi.

Jingjiao Ma, Jinhwa Lee, Haixia Liu, Ignacio Mena, A. Sally Davis, Sun Young Sunwoo, Yuekun Lang, Michael Duff, Igor Morozov, Yuhao Li, Jianmei Yang, Adolfo García-Sastre, Juergen A. Richt and Wenjun Ma. Newcastle disease virus-based H5 influenza vaccine protects chickens from lethal challenge with a highly pathogenic H5N2 avian influenza virus. npj Vaccines 2, Article number: 33 (2017).

Dunkelberger JR, Serão NVL, Weng Z, Waide EH, Niederwerder MC, Kerrigan MA, Lunney JK, Rowland RRR, Dekkers JCM. 2017. Genomic regions associated with host response to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome vaccination and co-infection in nursery pigs. BMC Genomics. 18:865.

Book Chapter

J. Kim and S.-O. Choi, “Superhydrophobicity,” in Waterproof and Water Repellent Textiles and Clothing, John T. Williams (Ed.), Oxford, UK: Elsevier, pp. 267-297, 2017.

Abstracts submitted/published

  • Jayden McCall, a student in Dr. Robert DeLong’s lab, has a publication in Nanomaterials which has been indexed in NIH PubMed. “ZnO Nanoparticles Protect RNA from Degradation Better than DNA” McCall J, Smith JJ, Marquardt KN, Knight KR, Bane H, Barber A, DeLong RK. Nanomaterials (Basel). 2017 Nov 8;7(11). pii: E378. doi: 10.3390/nano7110378. PMID:29117135
  • Dr. Wangemann and Dr Sung Huhn Kim submitted an abstract, “Fluid Secretion in the Developing Inner Ear,” to be presented at the 41th Mid-Winter Meeting of the Association of research in Otolaryngology in San Diego, CA in February, 2018

Manuscripts accepted for publication

Ms. No.: BBRC-17-8489
Title: Co-treatment with a C1B5 peptide of protein kinase Cγ and a low dose of gemcitabine strongly attenuated pancreatic cancer growth in mice through T cell activation
Corresponding Author: Dr. Masaaki Tamura
Authors: Susumu Ishiguro; Atsushi Kawabata; Alejandro Zulbaran-Rojas; Kelsey Monson; Deepthi Uppalapati; Naomi Ohta; Makoto Inui; Charalampos G Pappas; Andreas G Tzakos;

MPH celebrates December graduation

MPH celebration with Barta Stevenson, MPH program; Dr. Tanda Kidd, MPH faculty; Corey Miller, MPH student, graduate December 2017;  Dr. Sandy Proctor, MPH faculty; and Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy, MPH/DMP faculty.
Congratulations to MPH graduate Corey Miller (center) who starts a Health Policy internship in Senator Moran’s office in Washington, D.C., in January 2018. He is joined for a celebration by Barta Stevenson with the MPH program; Dr. Tanda Kidd, MPH faculty; Dr. Sandy Proctor, MPH faculty; and Dr. Ellyn Mulcahy, MPH/DMP faculty.

The full list of MPH graduates for December 2017 is in this table below.

Student

Emphasis

Field Experience Site

Major Professor

Bailey Davis

Infectious Diseases

Animal Protective League, Springfield, IL

Robert Larson

Holly Kuckelman

Public Health Nutrition

Kansas Department of Education, Child Nutrition and Wellness

Sandra Procter

Corey Miller

Public Health Nutrition

National Institutes of Health, National Human Genome Institute

Tanda Kidd

Victoria "Kinley" Reed

Infectious Diseases

Tennessee Department of Health/Vanderbilt University

Ellyn Mulcahy

Aaron Swank

Public Health Physical Activity

Lafene Health Center

Emily Mailey

Alyssa Toillion

Infectious Diseases

Kansas Department of Agriculture

Robert Larson

Amanda Jo Worthington

Infectious Diseases

Shawnee County Health Department

Ellyn Mulcahy

Jonathan Yang

Infectious Diseases

Saline County Health Department

Robert Larson

Drs. Apley and KuKanich speak at K-State Olathe

Drs. Mike Apley and Butch KuKanich
K-State Olathe recently hosted the second seminar in a series on regulatory affairs in animal health. Speakers addressed some of the regulatory challenges that come with new animal health technologies. Talks featuring the CVM's Dr. Mike Apley and Dr. Butch KuKanich (pictured above), among others, looked at the issue from the perspectives of companion animal care, pharmaceutical production, food animal production, federal regulation and more. The next seminar in the series is March 6, 2018. See http://olathe.k-state.edu/regaffairs.

More about that event
The seminar was "Regulatory Challenges Associated with New Technology Implementation" and was held Dec. 7.

As new technology enters the animal health market, one of the biggest challenges of adaptation is achieving a registration, particularly when some features of the new technology may not clearly fit into the current regulatory processes.

This seminar is focused on the process of achieving a positive outcome for bringing the new technologies to market and addressing some of the potential regulatory challenges. Rather than regulation being an adversary to new technology, this seminar focuses on ways to work collaboratively with the regulatory agencies to achieve success.

About the series

Throughout the 2017-2018 academic year, K-State Olathe is hosting four seminars tailored to the Kansas City area animal health regulatory affairs community. The series is aimed at providing hot topic information in regulatory affairs and connecting industry with regulatory agencies.

#KSUnite

Unity Walk

CVM students, staff, faculty and four-legged friends for participating in #KSUnite, where the K-State family answered a call to action on Nov. 14, 2017. Everyone joined together for the K-State Unity Walk and the KSUnite program to reaffirm who we are, what we value and what we stand for as a university. But we know that the conversation — and more importantly, the work — does not stop there.

Ideas shared during the Nov. 14 facilitated conversations are being gathered and will help guide the K-State community forward. Additionally, the movement invited K-State students, faculty and staff to share ongoing progress with the university community to continue this important work together.

New Arrivals/Recent Departures

Lifelines is published each month by the Marketing and Communications Office at the College of Veterinary Medicine. The editor is Joe Montgomery, jmontgom@vet.k-state.edu.

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