University of Missouri Veterinary Research Scholars Program

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MU’s Veterinary Research Scholars Wrap Up Successful Summer

December 11, 2015 By administrator

The MU College of Veterinary Medicine recently completed its fourth annual Veterinary Research Scholars Program (VRSP). Sponsored by Merck, Merial, Pfizer and the MU CVM, the VRSP gives students in the Pre-Veterinary Medical Scholars Program and first- and second-year veterinary students the opportunity to spend their summer break exploring research.

Annie Chih is the model in the “dress your partner in PPE” Science Olympics event at Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City with scholars from the Oklahoma State and Kansas State VRSPs.
Annie Chih is the model in the “dress your partner in PPE” Science Olympics event at Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City with scholars from the Oklahoma State and Kansas State VRSPs.

As outlined in several publications, including “National Need and Priorities for Veterinarians in Biomedical Research” and “National Needs for Research in Veterinary Science,” veterinarians, with their broad knowledge of animal biology, have a tremendous and unique potential to contribute to numerous scientific disciplines. These publications have also identified a critical shortage of veterinarians who pursue research-oriented careers.

MU’s vibrant research community is an ideal setting for the development of veterinarians as biomedical researchers. The VRSP provides a foundation in research methodology through an intensive research experience that includes experimental methodology, seminars and discussions that give a broad exposure to biomedical sciences, and social events that foster interaction and a sense of community.

The 2008 VRSP scholars began designing and implementing research projects with their faculty mentor in February. When the summer break began, scholars hit the lab full time. Almost immediately, they began preparing for the focal point of the program, the National Merck-Merial Symposium, which this year was held at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

The symposium provides a forum where scholars from summer research programs across the country gather to network and share their science. Attending scholars prepare research posters and present their data to peers and faculty from other programs. They also attend seminars and mini-symposia led by prominent scientists and learn about post-DVM training programs in biomedical research. In 2008, more than 330 scholars from 25 programs from the United States and Canada participated. VRSP posters were well received and can be viewed at the VRSP Web page (http://www.cvm.missouri.edu/vrs/).

Marie Evola auscultates a gray fox that is having a wound repaired at the Potter Zoo. Evola was on a zoo visit while attending the National Veterinary Research Scholars Program Symposium in East Lansing, Michigan.
Marie Evola auscultates a gray fox that is having a wound repaired at the Potter Zoo. Evola was on a zoo visit while attending the National Veterinary Research Scholars Program Symposium in East Lansing, Michigan.

Social and networking activities are also a critical component of summer research programs, as they facilitate development of a research community among veterinary students. In addition to the national symposium, MU scholars participated in several activities, including tours of Bayer and the Stowers Institute in Kansas City, Mo., a trip to the University of Oklahoma Heath Sciences Center’s BSL2 and baboon breeding facilities in Oklahoma City, and a trip to Pfizer in St. Louis, Mo. One highlight of the program was meeting scholars from Kansas State University and Oklahoma State University at Kansas City’s Worlds of Fun amusement park. Participants got to know each other during the ‘Lab Olympics,’ where four mixed teams of MU, KSU and OSU scholars competed in events such as the pipette race, the gel toss, and the biohazard sack race. The national symposium also featured social activities including a barbecue at the Potter Zoo, where a few lucky MU scholars actually assisted in a wound repair of a gray fox.

The 2008 VRSP attracted 14 students from MU, as well as two students from the University of Tennessee. Moreover, one of the 2007 MU scholars, Rachael Cohen, ventured off to Kansas State University to further explore research as part of the KSU VRSP. The program has been well received by scholars and mentors alike.

Filed Under: News

About the Program

The objectives of the MUVRSP are to expose veterinary students to research career opportunities through a mentored research experience and develop a much-needed community of veterinary research scientists.

For additional veterinary student research opportunities, see the Boehringer Ingelheim Veterinary Scholars and National and Canadian Research Opportunities for Veterinary Students web sites.

This program is sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim, IDEXX BioResearch, and the MU College of Veterinary Medicine.

Contact Us

Primary Contact:
Dr. Craig Franklin
Program Co-Director and Contact
Professor
Department of Veterinary Pathobiology
College of Veterinary Medicine
Voice: 573-882-6623
Fax: 573-884-7521
Email: franklinc@missouri.edu

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Dr. Gary S. Johnson's Lab

 

We are focused on the discovery of the mutations responsible for heritable canine diseases. Over the years we have identified approximately 40 such mutations. Currently our main strategy is to generate and analyze whole genome sequences from affected dogs, identify suspicious DNA variations, and do PCR-based DNA tests to see which candidate variations occur in affected dogs but not normal dogs. A Veterinary Research Scholar would be taught to do the PCR-based DNA tests and asked to test normal and affected dogs to determine the cause of an inherited canine disease. Before the beginning of 2018, we expect to receive 21 new whole genome sequences each generated with DNA from a dogs with a different inherited disease such as Elhers-Danlos syndrome, lysosomal storage disease, epilepsy, megaesophagous, cataracts, ataxia, and alopecia. By March we 2018, we expect whole genome sequence data for several more dogs with interesting diseases.

Dr. Laurel Grisanti's Research

 

The focus of my research is to understand the mechanisms that regulate the development and progression of heart failure.  In particular, my research investigates the immunomodulatory role of adrenergic receptors and following cardiac injury and as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of heart disease.  β-adrenergic receptors (βAR) are critical regulators of cardiac function both in the healthy and diseased heart.  Cardiac βAR are differentially expressed with the β1AR subtype being predominantly localized to cardiomyocytes where they are known to regulate contractility.  β2AR are predominate on other cells types including fibroblasts and immune cells.  During heart failure, βAR signaling becomes altered and subtype expression ratios change, leading to detrimental hypertrophy, increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction.  As a result of this dysregulation in βAR signaling, they are a common therapeutic target for the treatment of heart diseases including myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure.

Following MI, there is an intense inflammatory response that is critical to for clearing the area of dying cardiomyocytes and extracellular matrix debris and activating remodeling pathways.  It has been known for over 100 years that the sympathetic nervous system can influence immune responses in part through its activation of βAR.  βAR are expressed on virtually all cells of the immune system where they impact cell function in a cell type, activation state and disease dependent manner.  β2AR are the most highly and widely expressed βAR subtype in the immune system where they are known to influence a number of different functions including hematopoiesis, lymphopoiesis, thymopoiesis, lymphocyte homing, immune cell maturation and immune cell function.  Regulation of immune functions by β2AR is thought to contribute to a number of different diseases including autoimmune diseases and wound healing.  However, the manner in which β2AR regulate immune responses is often disease dependent and how β2AR regulation of immune responses influences the pathogenesis and progression of heart failure is completely unknown.  We have identified an important role for β2AR in suppressing early immune responses, which leads to impairments in the hearts ability to remodel following ischemic injury.  Mice that lack β2AR in their immune system have decrease leukocyte infiltration following MI as a result of decreased migratory ability through alterations in the chemokine receptor CCR2.  There are also impairments in egress of immune cells from the spleen.  Ongoing studies are investigating the role of β2AR in regulating specific immune cell populations that impact healing following MI, identifying novel mechanisms through which β2AR are influencing the immune response, the impact of β-blockers on inflammatory responses and novel therapeutic strategies targeting β2AR in the immune system to improve outcome after MI.

Publications:

  1. Grisanti LA, Shumacher SM, Tilley DG and Koch WT (2017) Designer Approaches to GPCR Modulation. JACC Basic Transl Sci. In Press.
  2. Guo S, Carter RL, Grisanti LA, Koch WJ and Tilley DG (2017) Impact of Paroxetine on Proximal β-Adrenergic Receptor Signaling. Cell Signal. 38:127-33.
  3. Verma SK, Garikipati VN, Krishnamurthy P, Schumacher-Bass SM, Grisanti LA, Cimini M, Cheng Z, Khan M, Yu Y, Benedict C, Truongcao MM, Rabinowitz JE, Goukassian DA, Tilley DG, Koch WJ and Kishore R (2017) Interleukin 10 Inhibits Bone Marrow Fibroblast Progenitor Cell-Mediated Cardiac Fibrosis in Pressure Overload Myocardium. Circulation. 136:940-953.
  4. Grisanti LA, Guo S and Tilley DG. G Protein-Coupled Receptor-Mediated Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Transactivation in the Cardiovascular System. 2017; J Cardiovasc Pharmacol; J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 70:3-9.
  5. Grisanti LA, Traynham CJ, Gao E, Koch WJ and Tilley DG (2016) β2-Adrenergic Receptor-Dependent Chemokine Receptor 2 Expression Regulates Leukocyte Recruitment to the Heart Following Acute Injury. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA; 113:15126-15131.
  6. Wasilewski WA, Grisanti LA, Song J, Carter RL, Repas AA, Myers VD, Gao E, Koch WJ, Cheung JY, Feldman AM and Tilley DG (2016) Vasopression Type 1A Receptor Deletion Enhances Cardiac Contractility and β-Adrenergic Receptor Sensitivity. Clinical Science; In Press.
  7. Woodall BP, Woodall MC, Luongo TS, Grisanti LA, Tilley DG, Elrod JW and Koch WJ (2016) Skeletal Muscle Specific GRK2 Ablation Alters Isolated Skeletal Muscle Mechanics and Enhances Clenbuterol-Stimulated Hypertrophy. J Biol Chem; 291:21913-24.
  8. Grisanti LA, Gumpert AM, Traynham CJ, Gorsky JM, Repas AA, Gao E, Carter RL, Yu D, Calvert JW, Pun Garcia A, Ibanez B, Rabinowitz JE, Koch WJ and Tilley DG (2016) Hematopoietic Expression of β2-Adrenergic Receptors is Critical for Survival Following Myocardial Infarction. Circulation; 134:153-67.
  9. Grisanti LA, Repas AA, Carter RL, Talarico JA, Gold JL, Koch WJ and Tilley DG. 2014. Temporal Regulation of Cardiac Cytokine Expression in Response to Chronic β-Adrenergic Receptor Stimulation. Am J Physiol Heart; 38:316-30.
  10. Hullmann JE, Grisanti LA, Makarewich CA, Gao E, Gold JI, Chuprun JK, Tilley DG, Houser SR and Koch WJ (2014) GRK5-Mediated Exacerbation of Pathological Cardiac Hypertrophy Involves Facilitation of Nuclear NFAT Activity;  Circ Res. 115:976-85.
  11. Tilley DG, Zhu W, Myers VD, Barr LA, Gao E, Li X, Song J, Carter RL, Makarewich CA, Troupes CD, Grisanti LA, Coleman RC, Koch WJ, Houser SR, Cheung JY and Feldman AM (2014) β-Adrenergic Receptor-Mediated Cardiac Contractility is Inhibited via Vasopressin Type 1A-Receptor-Dependent Signaling. Circulation; 130:1800-11.
  12. Talarico JA, Carter RL, Grisanti LA, Yu JE, Repas AA and Tilley DG (2014) β-Adrenergic Receptor-Dependent Alterations in Murine Cardiac Transcript Expression are Differentially Regulated by Gefitinib In Vivo. PLoS One; 9(6):e99195.
  13. Grisanti LA, Talarico JA, Carter RL, Yu JE, Repas AA, Radcliffe SW, Tang H, Makarewich CA, Houser SR and Tilley DG (2014) β-Adrenergic Receptor-Mediated Transactivation of Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Decreases Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis Through Differential Subcellular Activation of ERK1/2 and Akt; J Mol Cell Cardiol. 72:39-51.
  14. Carter RL, Grisanti LA, Yu JE, Repas AA, Woodall M, Ibetti J, Koch WJ, Jacobson MA and Tilley DG (2014) Dynamic Mass Redistribution Analysis of Endogenous β-Adrenergic Receptor Signaling in Neonatal Rat Cardiac Fibroblasts; Pharma Res Per. 2(1):e00024.
  15. Yu J, Deliu E, Zhang XQ, Hoffman NE, Carter RL, Grisanti LA, Brailoiu GC, Madesh M, Cheung JY, Force T, Abood ME, Koch WJ, Tilley DG and Brailoiu E (2013) Differential Activation of cultured Neonatal Cardiomyocytes by Plasmalemmal Versus Intracellular G Protein-Coupled Receptor 55. J Biol Chem; 288(1):22481-92.
  16. Grisanti LA, Kurada L, Cilz NI, Porter JE and Lei S (2012) Phospholipase C not Protein Kinase C is Required for the Activation of TRPC5 Channels by Cholecystokinin. Eur J Pharmacol; 689(1-3):17-24.
  17. Grisanti LA, Perez DM and Porter JE. Modulation of Immune Cell Function by α1-Adrenergic Receptor Activation. Curr Top Membr 2011; 67:113-38.
  18. Grisanti LA, Woster AP, Dahlman J, Sauter ER, Combs CK and Porter JE (2010) α1-Adrenergic Receptors Positively Regulate Toll-like Receptor Cytokine Production from Human Monocytes and Macrophages; J Pharmacol Exp Therap. 338(2):648-57.
  19. Grisanti LA, Evanson J, Marchus E, Jorissen H, Woster AP, DeKrey W, Sauter ER, Combs CK and Porter JE (2010) Pro-Inflammatory Responses in Human Monocytes are β1-Adrenergic Receptor Subtype Dependent; Mol Immunol. 47(6):1244-54.
  20. Deng P, Rojanathammanee L, Xiao Z, Yang C, Grisanti L, Watt J, Geiger JD, Liu R, Porter JE and Lei S (2009) GABAB Receptor Activation Inhibits Neuronal Excitability and Spatial Learning in the Entorhinal Cortex by Activating TREK-2 K+ Channels; Neuron. 63(2):230-43.
  21. Xiao Z, Deng P, Rojanathammanee L, Yang C, Grisanti L, Permpoonputtana K, Weinshenker D, Doze VA, Porter JE and Lei S (2009) Noradrenergic Depression of Neuronal Excitability in the Entorhinal Cortex via Activation of TREK-2 K+ Channels; J Biol Chem. 284(16):10980-91.
  22. Rojanathammanee L, Harmon EB, Grisanti LA, Govitrapong P, Ebadi M, Grove BD, Miyagi M and Porter JE (2009) HSP27 Confers Cytoprotective Effects Through a β-Adrenergic Receptor Agonist-Initiated Complex with β-Arrestin. Mol Pharm; 75(4):855-65.
Dr. Chaurasia's Lab

 

My lab is focused on a broad-based highly innovative, translational research program in molecular basis of eye diseases. My major research interest is to identify the early key initiating oxidative, inflammatory factors/signaling molecules and immune cells, which render metabolic derangements and eventually damage both neuronal and vascular cells in the pathophysiology of the eye diseases. Current projects in the lab involve wound healing mechanisms and nanodelivery, protein aggregation diseases, anti-angiogenic drugs, stem cell therapeutics and molecular mechanisms involving diabetic retinopathy and age-related retinal degeneration to decipher new drug targets for these blinding diseases.