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First TAMU Bench to Shop Experiential Training Course Travels to U.S., Africa

Originally posted in the August 2017 Dean’s Corner. View original article here.

2017 Bench to Shop Training GroupA team of Texas A&M University faculty and staff accompanied eight next-generation trainees through the U.S. and Africa in June and July for an innovative international training course that is part of the Scientific Business Development & Management Program’s “Bench to Shop” program.

The experiential training course embarked at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) before traveling to three institutions, at the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, Colorado State University, and the Agricultural Research Council-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute in South Africa.

Eight early career faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student trainees, who shared the common academic interest in livestock transboundary animal diseases (TAD), originated from Texas A&M, Texas A&M Health Science Center, the University of Georgia, Kansas State University, Plum Island Animal Disease Center (New York), the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, North Carolina State University, and the University of Pretoria (South Africa).

The “Bench to Shop” program is expected to cultivate a new generation of scientists to further contribute to the DHS science and technology mission through innovation and research that contributes to the defense of U.S. agriculture.

The hands-on training across different institutions in the U.S. and Africa  was invaluable for the trainees, offering exposure to different teaching methods that addressed livestock transboundary animal disease problems, the opportunity to learn different methodologies for handling TAD, exposure to international work, interacting with vaccine manufacturers, and the different practices for biocontainment training which varied between institutions.

2017 Bench to Shop Training Course“The knowledge, relationships, and experiences I have gained through the ‘Bench to Shop’ training program are vital tools I can utilize in my pursuit of a career in transboundary disease research,” one trainee said. “Through the online curriculum, I gained an understanding and appreciation for the commercialization pathway, and the experiential portion of the training not only solidified my goals of pursuing a future in this type of research, but also allowed me to experience working in high-containment research laboratories for the first time.

“This unique training program connected me with lifelong mentors and invaluable future collaborators, while illuminating multiple career paths that I would not have been exposed to in my current formal education, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have had this opportunity.”

The program also included 17 partner academic, industry, and government partners, with the goal of developing an innovative multi-modality, interdisciplinary training course.

“Bench to Shop” refers to taking discoveries from the bench (or laboratory) to the shop (or marketplace) through technology transition and commercialization. Trainees earn a training certificate in scientific business development and management.

In 2015, the CVM and the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD) were awarded a three-year funding contract to create a nationwide training program to help animal researchers learn to transition research discoveries, such as vaccines or diagnostics, to the marketplace.

The funding was awarded from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science (DHS) and the Technology Directorate, the DHS research and development arm of the department.

The training is intended to support the federal government’s transition from the Plum Island Disease Center to the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility.

Selection of a second cohort of trainees to participate in 2018 is currently underway. For more information, visit https://vetmed.tamu.edu/benchtoshop.

Student Researchers Tackle Societal Issues

What program combined public health, environmental health, and animal health to answer two research societal needs? Two Texas A&M students, Clara Bush (veterinary student), and Jarius Pulczinski (graduate student), participated in the thirteen-week on- campus summer Veterinary Medical Scientist Research Training Program (VMSRTP). Their scholarships were sponsored by the Texas A&M One Health Initiative. Each student was provided the opportunity to address a societal need, conduct hands-on research and identify One Health solutions working alongside accomplished faculty mentors. The students analyzed and presented their individual research findings at the Veterinary Medical Scientist Research Training Program Research Conference and the Merial-NIH National Veterinary Scholars Symposium at The Ohio State University.

Jarius Pulczinski in a lab with beakers in the foreground
Jarius Pulczinski

Jarius, a public health MS graduate student, was mentored by Dr. Natalie Johnson, an assistant professor in the Environmental and Occupational Health Department at the Texas A&M School of Public Health. Jarius’s research examined the relationship between air pollution exposure and health outcomes in humans and mice.  Dr. Johnson explained that Jairus, “compared data from a mouse model of prenatal air pollution exposure-induced asthma and from a maternal exposure characterization study in a population with high rates of childhood asthma. He measured inflammatory markers reflective of maternal air pollution exposure in human and mouse samples to investigate the link between maternal inflammation and asthma susceptibility.” Dr. Johnson observed that this summer the program led to new insights about opportunities at the interface of human and animal research.

Clara
Clara Bush

Clara, a second-year veterinary student, was mentored by Dr. Raquel Rech, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Texas A&M University. Clara’s research will ultimately impact the creation of a pig model to study Environmental Enteropathy, a Gastrointestinal (GI) disease in humans. “I worked to determine what tissue fixative best preserved the mucous layer of the colon in pig colonic samples,” Clara explained about her research “In the future, the use of optimal tissue handling and fixation will be an important aid in the further discovery of more targeted treatments and therapies for GI disease in veterinary medicine and human medicine alike.”

Clara’s response to this experience was, “Overall the program was a confidence booster for me, as a person who had never been on the presenting end of a scientific research project. It gave me the push to explore other career options and opportunities that I might not have known about.” She added, “This program was such a great way to break into the field of veterinary medicine which truly exemplifies a collaborative effort. Not only was I able to gain valuable laboratory skills that I can take with me far beyond veterinary school, but I was also able to get a first-hand look at the way the “One Health” concept works in real life.”

Information about One Health student programs and opportunities are available through the Texas A&M One Health Initiative.

Originally posted in the December 2016 Dean’s Corner. View the original article here.

Livestock and the Sustainable Development Goals

VMTH Room 101 | 12-1 pm

Dr. Shirley TarawaliPresenter:
Shirley Tarawali, PhD
Assistant Director General
International Livestock Institute

Dr. Shirley Tarawali is Assistant Director General at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) based in Nairobi, Kenya with responsibilities spanning strategy, planning, partnerships, communications and knowledge management. She is also secretary to the ILRI Board of Trustees. Prior to this Shirley was Director of the People, Livestock and the Environment Theme at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with responsibilities across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Shirley holds a PhD in Plant Science from the University of London, UK. Previously Shirley held a joint appointment with ILRI and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) based in Ibadan, Nigeria. She has authored or co-authored over 50 articles in scientific journal or peer-reviewed publications and contributed in an authorship or editorial capacity to 38 books and proceedings articles. Her fields of specialization include crop livestock and pastoral systems in sub Saharan Africa and Asia. Shirley has 30 years experience in research for development in Africa and Asia and currently serves on a number of international scientific and editorial committees.

Applying One Health at a Global Level: Emerging Issues and the Sustainable Development Goals

VMTH Room 2004 | 5:30–6:30 pm

Presenter:
Scott Newman, DVM, PhD
Senior Technical Coordinator, Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Representation in Vietnam

Dr. Newman is a veterinarian and wildlife biologist. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University (Massachusetts) in 1992, and his PhD from the University of California-Davis in 1998, where he studied disease ecology, ecotoxicology, and comparative pathology.

Scott is currently the Senior Technical Coordinator for the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Diseases (ECTAD) – Vietnam, where he leads the zoonotic and non-zoonotic disease program, food safety projects, and facilitates a One Health approach that places agriculture, public health, and natural resource management into the broader development framework in Vietnam and the south-east Asia region.

Between 1992 and 2003 Scott worked as the California State Oil Spill Response Coordinator at Wildlife Health Center and Oiled Wildlife Care Network. From 2003-2006 he was the Conservation Medicine Scientist at Widlife Trust where he focused on urban ecology and conservation within a 200 mile radius of New York City. He became the technical lead for global influenza network for surveillance and liaison to the United Nations on behalf of the Wildlife Conservation Society after which he was hired by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization as an Animal Health officer. At FAO headquarters, Scott developed a wildlife health and ecology unit within the Animal Health and Production Division of the Agriculture Department.

Scott has published nearly 100 manuscrips and has extensive international experience working on more than 50 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas focused on One Health, disease ecology, and disease management at the livestock-wildlife-ecosystem interface.

Evolution of Stress: From the Genome to Disease Symposium

The Texas A&M Institute for Genome Sciences and Society will hold its inaugural symposium, “Evolution of Stress: From the Genome to Disease,” Oct. 8–9, 2015.

The “fight-or-flight” response—the reaction to real or perceived threats—no doubt saved many of our ancestors from harm. This instinct, seen in humans and animals, evolved to deal with the stress arising from dangerous situations, such as being chased by a lion. However, when this increased level of stress continues for an extended period of time—as it often does in modern culture—it can lead to long-term damage to the body in the form of disease and chronic disorders.

Current research is unraveling the biological and genetic origins of the stress response with the goal of reducing its negative impact while still maintaining its evolutionary benefits. The symposium will explore current knowledge of stress research, and how it can be reduced to alleviate its negative impact on human, animal, and plant health.

A keynote address by world-renowned neuroscientist and primatologist, Dr. Robert Sapolsky of Stanford University, will be held on Thu., Oct. 8, at 6:30 pm at Rudder Theater. The event is free and open to the general public. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture. Sapolsky is the author of Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers. He was also featured in Stress: Portrait of a Killer, a National Geographic documentary.

On Fri., Oct. 9, researchers from Texas A&M and around the world will give presentations about the effects of chronic stress on humans, animals, and plants. A trainee poster session will also be held in conjunction with the symposium. All interested faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to attend.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Texas A&M Institute for Genome Sciences and Society (TIGSS), Texas A&M One Health Initiative and the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine& Biomedical Sciences.

Evolution of Stress Promotional Flyer

Beyond Ebola: One Health Strategies to Predict and Prevent the Next Emerging Pandemic

VMTH Room 2004 | 12–1 pm

Dr. Peter DaszakPresenter:
Peter Daszak, PhD
President & Chief Scientist, EcoHealth Alliance
Member, Institute of Medicine Forum on Microbial Threats
Member, NRC Advisory Committee to the US Global Change Research Program
Member, One Health Commission Council of Advisors
Member, Supervisory Board of the One Health Platform
Member, CEEZAD External Advisory Board

His achievements include identifying the bat origin of SARS, identifying the underlying drivers of Nipah and Hendra virus emergence, producing the first ever global emerging disease ‘hotspots’ map, identifying the first case of a species extinction due to disease, coining the term ‘pathogen pollution’, and discovering the disease chytridiomycosis as the cause global amphibian declines. Dr. Daszak is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Microbial Threats, the One Health Commission Council of Advisors, the Committee to Advise the US Global Change Research Program, the CEEZAD External Advisory Board; has served on the IOM Committee on global surveillance for emerging zoonoses, the NRC committee on the future of veterinary research, the International Standing Advisory Board of the Australian Biosecurity CRC; and has advised the Director for Medical Preparedness Policy on the White House National Security Staff on global health issues.

The Ups and Downs of Tregs and the TNFR2 Receptor: Lessons of Type 1 Diabetes and Chronic Infections

Denise Faustman, MD, PhDTIPS Auditorium | 3:30–4:30 pm

Presenter:
Denise Faustman, MD, PhD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Director Immunobiology Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Faustman completed her internship, residency, and fellowships in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology at the Massachusetts General Hospital and became an independent investigator at the MGH and Harvard Medical School in 1987. She is a member of the AAAS and serves as a frequent member of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

She has spent the last decade researching the nature of the molecular defect in T-cells that results in the development of autoimmunity. This work led her to discover a novel way to treat diabetic mice, accomplishing for the first time ever, the permanent reversal of established diabetes. Her earlier research accomplishments include the first introduct of the concept of modifying the antigens on donor tissues to prevent their rejection, a scientific accomplishment that is now in human clinical trials for diverse human diseases treatable with cellular transplants.

Currently, Dr. Faustman is working on strategies for applying this method to treat human disease and to explore the applicability of this process in other autoimmune diseases. Visit her website to learn more about this research and view recent publications.

Neglected Tropical Diseases

Dr. Kristy MurrayVMA Room 329 | 12–1 pm

Dr. Murray’s visit was featured in the March 2015 Dean’s Corner.

Presenter:
Kristy Murray, DVM, PhD
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology and Microbiology
Associate Vice-Chair for Research, Department of Pediatrics, Section of Pediatric Tropical Medicine
Assistant Dean for Faculty and Academic Development, National School of Tropical Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine & Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, TX

Download PDF of flyer for the event