Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Therapeutics of (primarily Feline) Disease
Host and pathogen mechanisms contributing to pathogenicity, focused on feline disease
Features of viral adaptation and evolution relative to cross-species transmission and adaptation
Host intracellular restriction mechanisms and innate immunity during retroviral infection
Intra-host disease dynamics relating to viral cell targets and tissue level impacts that predict/effect disease outcome
Relating peripheral blood cell characteristics to immunological responses and disease outcomes
Novel approaches for lentiviral vaccine development and therapeutic intervention
Novel approaches for dermatophytosis diagnosis and therapeutic intervention
Genetic evaluation of Microsporum canis strains
Development of innovative approaches and new diagnostic assays for study of host and viral kinetics and pathogenesis
Ecology of Infectious Disease
Understanding how urbanization, habitat fragmentation and sympatry with domestic cats influence disease dynamics in bobcats and pumas
Exploring modes of pathogen spillover that result in wildlife exposure to human and domestic animal diseases, and domestic animal and human exposure to wildlife diseases
Utilization of landscape genetic approaches to evaluate geographic determinants of interactions between subpopulations and cross-species disease transmission events
Collaborations with federal, state, and academic partners to develop a disease database for free-ranging North American felids (bobcats, pumas, feral domestic cats)
Laboratory Animal Medicine/Husbandry
Behavioral and physiological impacts of environmental enrichment on laboratory rodents