Advances in Immunology and Microbiology Seminar Series: Chris Akinsulie & Liz Goldsmith
About the event
Featuring research in the areas of:
Epidemiology | Infectious Disease | Disease Ecology | Drug Discovery | Virology |
Global Health | Vector-Borne Disease | Pathology
The Advances in Immunology & Microbiology seminar series is a weekly forum that brings together scientists from diverse fields and disciplines across the College of Veterinary Medicine to discuss research advances in the broad areas of immunology, microbiology, infectious diseases, and global health. Seminars feature student speakers from the Immunology & Infectious Disease (IID) doctoral program, IID-affiliated postdoctoral researchers and faculty, intramural speakers from across the university, and extramural speakers.
PRESENTER: Dr. Chris Akinsulie, PhD candidate & Veterinary Microbiology & Pathology (VMP); Mentor: Dr. Susan Noh, VMP
TITLE: Characterizing the functional antibody Fc-mediated response to Anaplasma marginale
ABSTRACT: Anaplasma marginale is an intra-erythrocytic bacterium that causes bovine anaplasmosis, characterized by acute anemia and a notable reduction in cattle production worldwide. Cattle that survive acute infection mount a strong antibody response and control the pathogen at levels below detection. IgG and particularly IgG2 are likely critical for this immune control. However, the IgG-mediated effectors important for pathogen control are unknown. The Fab domain of IgG binds the antigen and provides specificity to the antibody response while the Fc domain binds different classes of Fc receptors (FcRs) expressed on most immune cells. The interaction between the IgG Fc domain with different classes of FcRs triggers effector responses including antibody dependent monocyte (ADMP), neutrophil phagocytosis (ADNP), and complement fixation (ADCF).
In this work, we used ex-vivo fluorescent bead-based assays and flow cytometry to measure the magnitude of ADMP, ADNP, and ADCF at the time of control of A. marginale infection.
PRESENTER: Dr. Liz Goldsmith, PhD candidate & Veterinary Microbiology & Pathology (VMP) resident; Mentor: Dr. Margaret Wild, VMP
TITLE: Treponeme-associated hoof disease, an emerging disease in free-ranging elk (Cervus canadensis), is associated with multiple bacterial operational taxonomic units
ABSTRACT: Treponeme-associated hoof disease (TAHD) causes lameness and debilitation in free-ranging elk in the northwestern U.S. Observed disease prevalence varies with heavily afflicted herds in some areas and sporadic cases in other areas. Our objective was to identify and compare bacterial communities associated with a spectrum of histologic hoof lesions and with elk hooves collected across a broad geographic range. We examined tissues from 129 free-ranging elk with normal or abnormal hooves from areas across the range of TAHD and an area with no TAHD detected. We performed histopathology to diagnose TAHD and categorize hoof lesions, and used 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to identify microbial communities within hoof tissues. Bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in Spirochaetaceae, Mycoplasma, and Fusobacterium were associated with TAHD-positive lesions. Microbial communities differed between TAHD-positive hooves from areas with endemic vs. sporadic TAHD and between types of histologic hoof lesions. Our findings support a polybacterial etiology and identify key OTUs to target for future research and diagnostic test development.