Kocan Awarded for Research Excellence

Dr. Katherine Kocan is on the editorial board of Experimental and Applied Acarology, Animal Health Research Reviews and Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases Her undergraduate alma mater, Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, recently awarded Kocan the J.J. Turner Alumni Award for her outstanding work in veterinary science research.

Kocan and Dr. D.L. Step, a food animal research, extension and production medicine specialist, work together when Kocan and her team conduct tick vaccine trials. Step preconditions the cattle so they are healthy for the trial, helps with the immunizations and monitors their health throughout the trial.

Dr. Katherine Kocan received the 2010 Pfizer Animal Health Award for Research Excellence , an honor bestowed each year after a vote by veterinary college faculty members.

Kocan, a Regents Professor in the pathobiology department, just completed 36 years at OSU where her research has focused on many aspects of ticks and tick-borne pathogens — an area of interest to both Oklahomans and cattle producers.

She made her first research breakthrough in 1978 when she identified a pathogen in ticks, Anaplasma marginale, described the complex developmental cycle and defined tick transmission patterns.

This organism causes bovine anaplasmosis, an important tick-borne disease of cattle in the U.S. and worldwide. The research garnered her “Visiting Scientist” designation in Kenya and South Africa where she identified the agent of the cattle disease, heartwater, in ticks and described its developmental cycle.

Because researchers could only grow the organism in ticks or cattle, Kocan focused her next research goal on developing a cell culture for A. marginale

She recruited Dr. Ed Blouin, who had acquired extensive cell culture experience as a Research Scientist at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute, South Africa. Kocan and Blouin teamed with researchers from the University of Minnesota, Uli Munderloh and Tim Kurtti, who developed cell lines from ticks, and during the 1990s, Kocan and Blouin, working with their Minnesota colleagues, developed the first cell culture system for A. marginale.

The cell culture system, now used worldwide, allows for experimental manipulation of these pathogens and greatly reduces the need for animals in research. This system also allowed Kocan and her team to discover the molecule required for A. marginale to adhere to and infect tick cells — an important part of the pathogen’s life cycle.

Her laboratory then undertook the challenge of developing vaccines for tick control. Dr. José de la Fuente, a molecular biologist who earlier developed a cattle tick vaccine in Cuba, joined Kocan and Blouin in 2000.

Their teamwork has resulted in over 130 publications.

“Tick vaccines are needed because ticks have become resistant in areas where chemicals are heavily used, and it is likely that this will become more of a problem in the future,” Kocan says.

The team developed and is currently testing a prototype vaccine for the lone star tick, a major pest of Oklahoma cattle. “Based on this model,” she says, “tick vaccines could easily be developed for other important tick pests.”

The researchers extended the tick vaccine research when they discovered that the experimental vaccines also reduced the ability of ticks to transmit pathogens. Now their goal is to produce “dual target” vaccines that will both control ticks and prevent transmission of pathogens.

“If you bring in the right people with a wide range of expertise, the research opportunities are huge,” Kocan says, admittedly proud of the team she assembled. “And it has been great fun to work together.

“Overall, I would like to see our research result in a vaccine that would contribute to a solution for tick and tick-borne pathogen problems.

“I’m happy to receive the award because it acknowledges our team’s research contributions, and we appreciate that our research is recognized by our peers. I’m fortunate to have landed at OSU where tick and tick-borne research is a priority,” she says.

“It has been an exciting and fulfilling career.”

MATT ELLIOTT