VOLUME 24, NUMBER 1 // WINTER 2023
CT IMAGING TO DETECT INFECTIOUS DISEASE
INNOVATING HOST-DIRECTED THERAPIES
PULMONARY BANDING TO COMBAT CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE
PROGRESSING THE FUTURE OF MOTION CAPTURE
ANTICIPATING ROBOTIC-ASSISTED SURGERY RESEARCH TO BETTER UNDERSTAND AND DIAGNOSE PARASITIC INFECTIONS
CLINICAL TRIALS EXAMINING GLIOBLASTOMA
3-D PRINTED GUIDE USED TO CORRECT LIMB DEFORMITY
AI-BASED ALGORITHMS TO DETECT HEART DISEASE
USING EXISTING DRUGS TO TREAT CHAGAS DISEASE
In my 35 years as a higher education faculty member and administrator, I’ve learned that there is some truth to the saying, “time marches on.”
When I first joined the faculty at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) in the 1980s, the current Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH) facility was recently opened, and while it was the right space for the time, veterinary medicine was, in many ways, still in its infancy.
Since then, however, the veterinary profession has expanded and changed tremendously, predicated by the increasing number of veterinary specialties, the advancement of technology, the expansion of clinical trials, the surge in collaborative research, and the tremendous need for more veterinary professionals.
As a result, our current SATH facility—the state of Texas’ preeminent veterinary learning laboratory, which serves as the pinnacle of our Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) students’ education—is in dire need of an update to reflect both the quality of work happening there and the ways in which veterinary medicine is evolving.
This issue of VMBS Today highlights the ways that the school has remained committed to building on our traditions and past successes, while also showcasing how we are laying the groundwork for a better future for both animals and human beings.
Chief among these is our commitment to ensuring that our faculty, staff, and students are being prepared to be the next generation of leaders across all of the fields that encompass the One Health philosophy.
This starts with our campaign to build a next-generation small animal teaching and research hospital, which is listed high among Texas A&M President M. Katherine Banks’ priorities for the university.
That story and others in our WINTER 2023 issue provide a unique opportunity to explore the future of veterinary medicine and the role the VMBS is playing in defining that future—whether it be through potentially groundbreaking collaborative efforts, the extraordinary work being done by our faculty and students to improve health for both animals and human beings, or the technologies they’re harnessing in new and innovative ways.
As you read through these stories, I hope that you experience the same charge of excitement that we feel for the bold future that lies ahead for the VMBS and that you understand why now is the right time to make a very bold move, one that prioritizes building a new, next-generation small animal teaching and research hospital.
The time is always right to celebrate friends like you, to develop advancements that enhance animal and human health, and to honor the foundations laid in the past that empower the extraordinary work we are doing today. Excellence is a hallmark of Texas A&M, as is service above self, and the VMBS is proud to combine those values in a way that will place the school and Texas A&M at the cusp of cutting-edge research and at the forefront of advanced, compassionate care.
JOHN R. AUGUST
The Carl B. King Dean, School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
ON THE COVER:
The VMBS is shaping the future of veterinary medicine and building on the tradition of Aggie excellence. Research and clinical practices symbolized on the cover highlight our commitment to providing cutting-edge, compassionate care, while the tiles themselves represent building on the tradition of veterinary excellence with a new teaching and research facility.
*Artwork by Gabrielle Shreve, VMBS Communications
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF:
Jennifer G. Gauntt
WRITERS:
Aubrey Bloom ’07
Rachel Knight ’18
Dorian Martin ’06
Megan Myers ’19
Alyssa Schaechinger ’24
Madison Semro ’23
Ashley Vargo ’21
ART DIRECTION & DESIGN:
Christopher A. Long
PHOTOGRAPHER:
Michael Kellett ’91
CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS:
VMBS Today
Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M University
4461 TAMU
College Station, TX
77843-4461
vetmed.tamu.edu
VMBS Today is published by the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences for alumni and friends. We welcome your suggestions, comments, and contributions to content. Contact us via email at vmbs-editor@tamu.edu. A reader survey is available online at: tx.ag/VMBSTodaySurvey
Permission is granted to use all or part of any article published in this magazine, provided no endorsement of a commercial product is stated or implied. Appropriate credit and a tear sheet are requested.
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION
THE CARL B. KING DEAN
Dr. John R. August
EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN
Dr. Ramesh Vemulapalli
ASSOCIATE DEAN, PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS
Dr. Karen K. Cornell
ASSOCIATE DEAN, RESEARCH & GRADUATE STUDIES
Dr. Michael Criscitiello
ASSISTANT DEAN, PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMS
Dr. Elizabeth Crouch ’91
ASSOCIATE DEAN, VETERINARY EDUCATION, RESEARCH, & OUTREACH (VERO)
Dr. Susan Eades
ASSOCIATE DEAN, GLOBAL ONE HEALTH
Dr. Gerald Parker Jr. ’77
ASSOCIATE DEAN, HOSPITAL OPERATIONS
Dr. Stacy Eckman
ASSISTANT DEAN, CURRICULUM & ASSESSMENT
Dr. Kristin Chaney
ASSISTANT DEAN, FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION
Ms. Yolanda Veals
ASSISTANT DEAN, RESEARCH & GRADUATE STUDIES
Dr. William Murphy
INTERIM DEPT. HEAD, LARGE ANIMAL CLINICAL SCIENCES
Dr. Jennifer Schleining
DEPT. HEAD, SMALL ANIMAL CLINICAL SCIENCES
Dr. Jonathan Levine
DEPT. HEAD, VETERINARY INTEGRATIVE BIOSCIENCES
Dr. Todd O’Hara
INTERIM DEPT. HEAD, VETERINARY PATHOBIOLOGY
Dr. Albert Mulenga
DEPT. HEAD, VETERINARY PHYSIOLOGY & PHARMACOLOGY
Dr. Larry J. Suva
CHIEF OF STAFF
Ms. Misty Skaggs ’93
ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT (TEXAS A&M FOUNDATION)
ENGAGE WITH US
Mr. Larry Walker ’97
DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
Mr. Justin Ellison
DIRECTOR, COMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA, & PUBLIC RELATIONS
Ms. Jennifer G. Gauntt
SCHOOL DIRECTORY
SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE & BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
Texas A&M University | 4461 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-4461 vetmed.tamu.edu
DEAN’S OFFICE & ADMINISTRATION
979.845.5051
ADMISSIONS
979.845.5051
DEVELOPMENT & ALUMNI RELATIONS
979.845.9043
VMBS COMMUNICATIONS 979.845.1780
CONTINUING EDUCATION
979.845.9102
RESEARCH & GRADUATE STUDIES 979.845.5092
GLOBAL ONE HEALTH 979.845.8612
PUBLIC RELATIONS
979.862.4216
VETERINARY INTEGRATIVE BIOSCIENCES
979.845.2828
VETERINARY PATHOBIOLOGY 979.845.5941
VETERINARY PHYSIOLOGY & PHARMACOLOGY
979.845.7261
SMALL ANIMAL CLINICAL SCIENCES
979.845.9053
LARGE ANIMAL CLINICAL SCIENCES 979.845.9127
VETERINARY MEDICAL TEACHING HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION
979.845.9026
SMALL ANIMAL TEACHING HOSPITAL
979.845.2351
LARGE ANIMAL TEACHING HOSPITAL 979.845.3541
“This hospital will provide hands-on educational workspace for veterinary students and a state-of-the-art laboratory for animal health and translational research. Faculty members in the vet school will partner with colleagues across the university to develop innovative diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.”
Story by JENNIFER GAUNTT“When something has a champion, it moves,” said Dr. Jonathan Levine, head of the Small Animal Clinical Sciences Department (VSCS) in the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS).
What may seem like years in the making, the VMBS’ dream of a new, next-generation small animal teaching and research hospital has built momentum under Dr. John August, the Carl B. King Dean of Veterinary Medicine, and has quickly gained support from Texas A&M University President Dr. M. Katherine Banks.
“By having important conversations with the right stakeholders and administrators, Dean August has led these people who’ve been dreaming about a new small animal teaching and research hospital to develop it and run with it,” Levine said.
During her 2022 State of the University address, Banks referenced a new veterinary teaching and research hospital as a priority for the university, adding that the aspiration for this hospital is for it to be the best in the world.
“This hospital will provide hands-on educational workspace for veterinary students and a state-of-the-art laboratory for animal health and translational research,” she said during the address. “Faculty members in the vet school will partner with colleagues across the university to develop innovative
diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.”
With several key milestones reached, the VMBS has forged ahead with developing a vision for a next-generation teaching and research hospital that builds on the school’s 100-plus years of excellence in teaching, service, and research, while keeping at heart Texas A&M’s core, land-grant mission and, above all, the university’s focus on student success.
A SOLID FOUNDATION
Among the reasons VMBS faculty, staff, students, and administrators have dreamed of a new small animal teaching and research hospital is that this facility is more than just a building—it’s a symbol of what could be, of boundless opportunities and possibilities.
It’s a dream that is driven by the interconnection between student success, leading-edge patient care, and clinical trials.
“Our vision is building upon strengths we already have,” Levine said. “The beautiful thing about it is that a lot of the pieces are here.”
“Our faculty, our students, and our staff—we can’t underscore the staff piece—are so passionate about what they do; their love for animals and the human-animal bond shines through,” said Dr. Stacy Eckman, associate dean for hospital operations. “Clients see the rapport you build in the
- DR. M. KATHERINE BANKS
The VMBS’ vision for a new, next-generation small animal teaching and research hospital is driven by the school’s rich history of student success, leading-edge patient care, and impactful research, while anticipating what the future of veterinary medicine might hold.
hospital, the expertise, and the passion when they walk in the door; they leave feeling like somebody deeply cared about them. It’s hard to put into words, but it’s a shared love for something; whether it’s healing the dog or the dog itself, it’s a shared passion.”
“The fact is that people do remarkable work in our Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH),” August said. “That’s the quandary (in needing a new teaching and research hospital)—the quality of work is amazing.”
That quality of work can be witnessed in many ways.
Chief among those are the exponential growth in caseload, which is more than six times higher than it was in 1981, when the current SATH was opened; the expansion of clinical research, with at least twice as many services offering clinical trials now compared to 10 years ago; and the increase in services themselves, from two in 1981 to 16 today.
All of these factors reflect the trust that clients have for SATH clinicians in caring for their beloved companion animals and the importance of the specialized care the SATH offers patients that is unavailable anywhere else.
Perhaps most importantly, these factors work together to ensure that VMBS students receive the exceptional education one expects from one of the most elite Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) programs in the country.
“It’s really all about the students. The teaching hospital is the pinnacle of their learning, and we have the only
veterinary medical teaching hospital in Texas,” Eckman said. “We do an exceptional job of teaching clinical medicine.
“We gather a diverse caseload at the tertiary-care level, and while a lot of the cases are not necessarily things that students are going to be seeing in private practice, the exposure they get to a lot of different scenarios gives them the opportunity to practice everything all at once,” she said. “That is really critical when teaching students.”
A BOLD VISION FOR THE FUTURE
Capitalizing on that good work and synergy means weighing how the SATH can both better serve Texas’ citizens and animals, as well as the students who begin their careers as Aggie veterinarians within the hospital’s walls—while also looking to the future.
“There’s this tremendous opportunity to do so much more,” Levine said. “We continue to innovate in the clinic with our interventional radiology, with our minimally invasive surgeries, with some procedures you can’t get anywhere else in the state and the U.S. This is about doing more of that; it’s about access.”
Programs like the VSCS’ Underserved Communities Internship—created to broaden the SATH’s reach across the state—and the Roach Family Student Community Outreach Surgical Program—which allows students to gain more surgical experience while offering free procedures for
the pets of low-income Brazos Valley residents—are good examples of ways a new teaching hospital can combine education and patient care while looking to the future.
“Dean August has been particularly good about reminding us about the importance of the external impact we have through our students, through serving our state, and through innovating,” Levine said. “Where we see gaps, we’ve got to fill them. We must be thinking of big ideas; we should be working on a few each year that build on top of one another.”
Part of that impact, too, comes from research and clinical trials, which offer students insight into non-clinical veterinary career paths and showcase how research can offer real hope to animal owners, while also supporting the advancement of medicine that impacts animals and human beings.
For August, this combination of ideas prominently places the VMBS within Banks’ vision of a Texas A&M that stands at the forefront of medical and technological innovation.
“If we look at the Small Animal Teaching Hospital as a research-intensive tertiary care center, we can aspire to become a teaching and research hospital comparable to MD Anderson,” he said. “Nobody worries that MD Anderson is a research-driven hospital. You go there to be part of a clinical trial. You go there because it is the best in the world. You go there because it is cutting-edge. You go there because of the high level of compassionate care. People understand that’s the role A&M should have in the care of companion animals.”
Likewise, with other health- and medical-focused schools, colleges, and departments at Texas A&M, there is an abundance of mutually beneficial opportunities to collaborate on topics like medical devices and issues that directly impact both animals and human beings.
“We have an opportunity to look at what role a small animal teaching and research hospital should have within our research-intensive, land-grant institution that focuses on the life sciences, as Texas A&M University does,” August said.
“Since the Small Animal Teaching Hospital has opened, the number of referral hospitals in Texas and in the nation has exploded; we no longer need to view ourselves as just a referral hospital,” he said. “We have a very unique opportunity to collaborate with others at our university in those disciplines who share our interest in animal and human health and to develop a model for a small animal teaching
A BOLD VISION: EIGHT PRIORITIES FOR A NEW, NEXT-GENERATION SMALL ANIMAL TEACHING AND RESEARCH HOSPITAL:
1. Provide exemplary primary care education for DVM professional students
2. Provide traditional referral services for veterinarians
3. Focus on a level of leadingedge, research-driven patient care not available regionally
4. Provide advanced care with compassion
5. Promote well-being for all occupants of the building
6. Focus on clinical trials, biobanking, and disease surveillance
7. Focus on telehealth and remote digital monitoring
8. Expand outreach to underserved communities
“If we look at the Small Animal Teaching Hospital as a research-intensive tertiary care center, we can aspire to become a teaching hospital comparable to MD Anderson. Nobody worries that MD Anderson is a research-driven hospital. You go there to be part of a clinical trial.”
- DR. JOHN AUGUST
and research hospital that is quite different from everything else that has been developed nationwide in the last decade.”
As Texas’ human and animal populations grow and projected spending within the pet industry nationwide swells to $250-300 billion by 2029, it will be more important than ever to have a flexible space where students can excel, clinicians can continue to provide leading-edge patient care, and basic and clinical scientists can come together to unravel some of life’s most pressing medical mysteries—while still being conscious that these increased needs will require more and more people to achieve these goals.
“Even though we are a tertiary care hospital, we want to keep looking for opportunities to impact the whole state,” Levine said.
CRAMPED SPACES
Eckman graduated from Texas A&M’s veterinary school in 2001, 20 years after the current SATH building opened. As a faculty member and now associate dean, Eckman says that a lot has changed at the SATH, but there’s one thing that hasn’t.
“The hospital is the same hospital,” she said. “That’s important because our faculty and staffing have grown exponentially and our student numbers have grown considerably, but we’re in the same exact footprint.”
August shared a similar experience when he joined the VMBS as head of the of the Department of Small Animal
“We will need exceptional primary care space for client, patient, and student interaction, to provide adequate space for veterinary medical students to develop the foundational competencies needed before entering the profession with immediate confidence.”
-Medicine and Surgery in 1986.
“In some ways, the building was already outdated when I came here, even though it was quite new at that time,” he said. “It was designed to provide more space but not necessarily designed for the future. So, today, we have a 40-year-old building that doesn’t reflect the quality of the work going on inside.”
While those in the SATH are doing tremendous work, the current facility ranks at the bottom in nearly all criteria compared to peer institutions; the VMBS’ nationally ranked curriculum and exceptional patient care are being accomplished in cramped spaces that present both challenges in managing increasing caseloads and potential safety and biosecurity challenges that impact the school’s aspirations in teaching, patient care, and research.
That the SATH continues to literally push its boundaries speaks to the resiliency of the faculty, staff, and students,
There has been an exponential increase in the number of visits to the SATH over the last 40 years, reinforcing the need for a new hospital.
DR. JOHN AUGUST
according to Levine.
“Our faculty, our students, and our staff are very flexible; they meet challenges with a can-do attitude,” Levine said. “That’s a little bit cliché, but to be able to achieve what they’ve achieved in those spaces, hats off to them.”
But the limitations that faculty, staff, and students experience are sometimes more than just an inconvenience.
“We do have to divert cases periodically—every seven to 14 days, and sometimes more frequently—because we don’t have enough room in our ICU; we try to limit that as much as we can and our ER, of course, is still open for emergencies,” Eckman said. “But if we only have so much space, we can only see so many cases; above all, we need to guarantee that we have adequate space and resources to ensure we are providing the highest quality care.”
Weighing the impact of an overcrowded hospital on students is especially important, because it can be directly related to student success.
“As a clinician, if I think about a caseload I had when there were 132 students, I need to increase my caseload so that the 180 students get the same learning opportunities,” Eckman said. “If we’re limited on how many cases we can bring in and where we can put them, we have to be creative about how we’re teaching students. And if we have to say no to cases
wanting to come in because we don’t have the space for them, it’s a lost opportunity.”
The limitations the SATH experiences are compounded by the increase in technology that has occurred in medicine since the 1980s.
“In the 80s, our operating rooms weren’t built for all of the scope towers and monitors,” Eckman said. “By the time you add equipment, the room has shrunk considerably; we have just far exceeded our capacity.
“Our ability to teach is still awesome. Our patient care is awesome,” she said. “But we can’t build on that right now. We can’t see more patients. We can’t teach differently. We can’t do any more research. We can’t do any more innovative surgeries. We can’t do any more in our current footprint.”
ROOM TO GROW
August sees the new small animal teaching and research hospital as having a unique opportunity to play a central role in the next phase of Texas A&M’s growth and stature.
“There was an attempt back in 2013 to expand the Small Animal Teaching Hospital. In the end, the finances weren’t there; they had to be put into the educational complex,” August said. “In many ways, it’s a godsend that we didn’t
“This new teaching hospital has the potential to have tremendous impact not only within Texas A&M but outside as well. Institutions exist for the positive impact they have on society at large.”
- DR. JON LEVINEupdate or replace it 10 years ago, because it probably would’ve already been out of date.
“We have to make sure that the new hospital is designed in a way that we have flexibility over the next decades for handling the sickest, most complicated patients and not be faced with a situation where in five years we’re wishing our ICU was bigger,” he said.
“At the same time, we will need exceptional primary care space for client, patient, and student interaction, to provide adequate space for veterinary medical students to develop the foundational competencies needed before entering the profession with immediate confidence,” August continued.
Now that the project has support from Texas A&M’s president, the Texas A&M University System, and the Texas Legislature, the VMBS is looking ahead to the pieces that
need to be completed before breaking ground—including submitting a program of requirements for approval by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents in February 2023, which will move the project into the engineering and architectural planning phases.
As the VMBS administrative and development teams work toward bringing the school’s dream to fruition, with the hopes of hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony by 2026, the support of donors will be critical.
“This new teaching hospital has the potential to have tremendous impact not only within Texas A&M but outside as well. Institutions exist for the positive impact they have on society at large,” Levine said. “We’re going to be able to change not only the educational landscape for students preparing to enter the workforce, not only the pet health care landscape, but, also, there may be some real scientific innovation that comes along with it. So, I think it’s going to be amazing for donors as well.” ■
Join Texas A&M and the VMBS in laying the foundation for the next generation of exceptional student success, leading-edge patient care, and impactful research. Together, we can share the Aggie spirit with the world through the advancement of medicine that impacts animals and human beings. You can support the school’s mission through endowed funds for research, faculty, and student scholarships. Additionally, naming opportunities starting at $25,000 abound in the new facility, and spaces can be named in memory or honor of a special person or pet. If you’d like to be part of pushing veterinary medicine to new heights at Texas A&M, contact:
Larry Walker ’97 Assistant Vice President of Development Texas
A&M Foundation
lwalker@txamfoundation.com
800.392.3310 or 979.458.4032
Support construction with gifts of $25 or more online at tx.ag/NextGenVetHospital
Dr. James Bilof with veterinary students
“To specifically target one host immune effector and see therapeutic outcomes of boosting a host immune response, that’s something that we are actually unique in and that sets us apart from some of the best of the UTI research community.”
- DR. SARGURU SUBASHDr. Sarguru Subash works to develop novel approaches to circumvent antibiotic resistance.
Story by MADISON SEMROIf you wake up with a persistent urge to run to the restroom and a burning sensation when you urinate, you may have a urinary tract infection (UTI). If you do, your doctor will likely prescribe you a dose of antibiotics and send you home, assuring you that you will be just fine.
But that solution may not work if the bacteria causing the UTI are resistant to antibiotics.
Some doctors have found that certain antibiotics are no longer enough to eliminate infections caused by antibioticresistant bacteria, making those infections particularly dangerous to patients. As bacteria become more resistant to current antibiotic treatments, options for dealing with these infections are becoming fewer and fewer.
“Right now, it’s pretty scary,” said Dr. Sarguru Subash, an associate professor in the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (VMBS) Department of Veterinary Pathobiology (VTPB). “We are almost looking at a post-antibiotic world, where we may not be able to use antibiotics anymore like we used to do in the past.”
REVOL-UTI-ONIZING ANTIBIOTIC TREATMENT
Subash and his lab group have honed in on studying UTIs, which occur when bacteria in the urinary tract multiply and lead to inflammation. UTIs are some of the most common bacterial infections in the world, responsible for more than 8 million doctor visits per year in the United States alone, and, in some cases, can lead to kidney damage and lifethreatening complications.
Because these infections are common in several mammalian species, UTIs are a great model infection for Subash and his team as they work to understand both the extremely common infection and how bacterial infections function more broadly.
As with many other bacterial infections, antibiotics are the primary treatment methods for UTIs. However, just like with other antibiotics, antibiotic resistance is limiting how effective this treatment is for afflicted patients.
Decades of past research have shown that this resistance can occur very quickly—sometimes within the course of a few weeks; once this resistance has developed, it cannot be undone and, in its most extreme cases, can render a specific antibiotic useless.
So, Subash and his team are currently working toward developing a host-directed therapy—a treatment method that circumvents the development of antibiotic resistance and can positively impact both human and animal health.
By targeting the immune system, which has innate mechanisms to fight infections, and helping it do its job better, host-directed therapies would allow physicians to treat bacterial infections without needing to use an antibiotic. These treatments should give the immune system the boost it needs to be able to eradicate the infection on its own.
“I’m very excited about the concept of host-directed therapy, and that’s the area in which I see myself 10 years from now,” Subash said.
A THERAPE-UTI-C APPROACH
Host-directed therapies work like traditional antibiotics; these therapies rely on the host’s response to a pathogen rather than affecting the pathogen directly, such as by changing the environment in which the pathogen exists to make it less favorable to live or grow.
An example of this is the body’s use of metals such as copper; many animals, including human beings, rely on copper when carrying out important processes in the immune system. When infected by a pathogen, the immune system can restrict life-sustaining metals from the bacteria, and at the same time, it can pump copper, which is toxic to bacteria, into the bacteria’s cells.
This mechanism of simultaneously depriving the bacteria of essential metals and pumping copper into the bacteria allows the host’s immune system to prevent the infection from spreading, possibly even killing the infection altogether.
Previous research has established that a protein named ceruloplasmin releases more copper in the urine during UTIs, but there is still much to learn about the exact mechanisms of copper in immune functions.
In the next few years, Subash and his team aim to determine how copper is getting into the bladder during UTIs so they can boost this specific aspect of the immune response—a clever idea to outsmart antibiotic resistance.
“To specifically target one host immune effector and see therapeutic outcomes of boosting a host immune response, that’s something that we are actually unique in and that sets us apart from some of the best of the UTI research community,” Subash said.
The novel treatment method Subash is working toward would allow physicians to treat bacterial infections without fear of contributing to the development of antibiotic-resistant strains.
Because their alternative could lead to fewer secondary infections, and, thus, improve patient outcomes, Subash and his team are currently supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.
“If we did detect a specific receptor or a transporter within that cell type that’s involved in the mobilization of copper, then we can pharmaceutically modify how much copper is released into urine,” Subash explained. “Then, we can play with the modulating site during infection, so we can make it less hospitable for bacteria to grow.”
EVOL-UTI-ON FROM VETERINARIAN TO RESEARCHER
Subash’s interest in veterinary medicine began at a young age on his grandparents’ farm in a small town in southern India, where he helped care for the animals. That interest drove Subash to attend veterinary school at Madras Veterinary College of Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences
University in India, where he learned that he also had a passion for science.
“Very soon, I realized that by studying animal health, we can address more broad problems in human health as well,” Subash said. “So, it took me away from practicing veterinary medicine more into hands-on science and research.”
Subash moved to the United States to pursue his Ph.D. in comparative medicine and integrative biology at the Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, which he completed in 2011. There, he said he got his first real research experience.
Following his Ph.D., he started to look at potential pathogens and infection models that could impact both human and animal health in a wide-reaching way.
“That’s when UTI research really caught my attention. It’s a very broadly applicable disease that can still help me retain some aspects of connection to my previous life as a veterinarian by addressing a problem that is relevant to human and animal health,” Subash said.
Subash then completed a postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Harry Mobley at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he began studying UTIs. In 2015, he completed his fellowship and got his first faculty position at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine.
But Subash felt that something was missing in the medical school environment; he had wanted to eventually get back to his veterinary roots, so he decided to move to Texas A&M, where he could work on developing biochemical and genomic approaches to address his research questions about UTIs.
CONTRIB-UTI-NG TO THE FUTURE
Since joining the Texas A&M faculty in 2018, Subash has become an integral member of the Aggie community.
“We recruited Dr. Subash for his top-quality research program in infectious diseases and his passion for mentoring the next generation of scientists,” said Dr. Ramesh Vemulapalli, VMBS executive associate dean and former VTPB department head. “His research and teaching accomplishments have been outstanding.”
Each spring, Subash teaches a graduate-level course called Bacteria in Health and Disease about the various impacts bacteria can have on different organ systems. He also mentors students in his classroom and his research lab.
“We recruited Dr. Subash for his top-quality research program in infectious diseases and his passion for mentoring the next generation of scientists. His research and teaching accomplishments have been outstanding.”
- DR. RAMESH VEMULAPALLI
“Mentoring is something that is very close to my heart because I benefited tremendously from having great mentors in graduate school and during post-doctoral training,” he said.
Subash takes an individualized approach to working with students, meeting them where they currently are and helping to fill in their gaps. Whether they require training in laboratory techniques or help writing grant proposals, Subash is happy to help—and if he can’t, he will connect his students with someone who can.
“For every student, my mentoring style is trying to understand what they’re comfortable with, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, and developing a personalized mentoring philosophy,” Subash explained. “I don’t have a boilerplate approach to mentoring because I don’t think it will work. So, it’s trying to find out what they need and also being flexible.”
That mentorship style is exactly what drew Kaitlin Casanova-Hampton, who recently completed her Ph.D., to join Subash’s lab when she started graduate school in 2018. Casanova-Hampton was interested in microbiology and signed up in Subash’s lab to fill her last rotation spot.
After spending time in the lab, however, she knew she found the ideal mentor in Subash.
“When it comes to your Ph.D. program, finding a principal investigator with whom you are on the same page is the most important decision you can make,” Casanova-Hampton said. “It was really important to me to find somebody who cared about my personal well-being. I knew that since I was having a family, having somebody who cared about me as a person, as opposed to what I could do for them, was everything.”
Casanova-Hampton became Subash’s first student to earn her Ph.D. During her four years in graduate school, she published three papers, presented at conferences, and went on maternity leave—twice—to start her family.
“Because of Dr. Subash, I had a supreme grad school experience,” she said. “I was able to check all of the boxes, all while still being able to check a lot of personal boxes.”
Casanova-Hampton said Subash’s kindness and understanding are what make him a great mentor; by combining these qualities with his scientific expertise, he can be whatever his students need him to be, fostering strong relationships and creating a supportive lab environment.
“Dr. Subash is really great about putting the needs of the lab first but also putting my needs as an individual first as well,” she explained. “He tries to make it to where everybody’s winning—where a win for the lab is a win for me, too.” ■
“Worms are my life. They’re pretty important, of course, in the medical and veterinary fields. But beyond that, they’re diverse and complex.”
- DR.Clinical assistant professor Dr. Guilherme Verocai uses his passion for parasitology to fuel his research projects, serve veterinarians across the country, and teach students that success comes from doing what you love.
Story by MEGAN MYERS
GUILHERME VEROCAI
While many veterinarians will admit to having a favorite animal, worms are usually not at the top of the list.
For Dr. Guilherme Verocai, however, worms—specifically those that live parasitically inside another organism—are the most fascinating animals on the planet.
“Worms are my life,” said Verocai, a clinical assistant professor in the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (VMBS) Department of Veterinary Pathobiology (VTPB). “They’re pretty important, of course, in the medical and veterinary fields. But beyond that, they’re diverse and complex.
“They’re animals living in, on, or off another animal,” he continued. “They’re much more intelligent than viruses and bacteria. Evolutionarily speaking, they’re very evolved organisms; they had to adapt to this parasitic lifestyle, which, arguably, is the most successful lifestyle on Earth.”
Verocai’s fascination with parasitic worms, also known as helminths, has influenced his entire career, which has taken him from Brazil to Canada to Africa and, finally, to Texas A&M, where he keeps a busy schedule as an educator, researcher, and diagnostician.
FINDING A PASSION
Helminths first caught Verocai’s attention during his first year of veterinary school at the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
“Early in vet school, I had courses in parasitology and I fell in love, basically,” he said. “I started doing parasitology research and I was a teaching assistant in parasitology, and I never left the research and teaching aspects.”
After earning his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree in 2005 and a Master of Science degree in veterinary parasitology in 2008, Verocai decided to expand his horizons, quite literally, by enrolling in a Ph.D. program in Canada.
“Parasites are trying to survive like all of us and, most of the time, killing the host is not an ideal strategy for them to continue on. But there is still a big impact on health and general well-being, as well as an economic burden on the infected humans.”
- DR. GUILHERME VEROCAIAt the University of Calgary, he chose to pursue a secondary interest in wildlife medicine—while still keeping his focus on worms, of course.
“I ended up in a very nice university at the right time,” he said. “The graduate program in veterinary medicine at the University of Calgary was brand new, so there were a lot of excited professors coming in full of ideas, as well as a lot of grad students coming from a bunch of different places on Earth. It was a pretty fun, diverse, and inspiring place to be.”
Verocai’s research project there focused on discovering a new species of lungworm that scientists believed to be living in large mammals above the Arctic Circle.
“Before I got there, they had found larvae in feces of caribou, moose, and musk oxen, and we knew it was something new because they didn’t match the genetics of any related worms,” Verocai said. “I really wanted to discover one of the adults and describe this new species, and I had no doubt that I would find them.”
Native hunters, including the Inuit and Dene ethnic groups, sent the Canadian research team samples of lung tissue from caribou and musk oxen to search for adult specimens of the new species.
“It was like working in the dark because the worms didn’t cause any obvious pathology or any lesions in the lungs,” Verocai said. “We were cutting through, washing, and sieving the tissue samples to look for the hairlike worms, which were only a few centimeters long. It was a big moment when we found the first adult worms in the lungs of musk oxen from Northern Quebec.”
During the project, Verocai also spent a lot of time in Arctic regions, talking to native peoples and collecting samples.
“I’m from Rio de Janeiro, a beach town, and here I was collecting poop by helicopter and chasing musk oxen and caribou in sub-Arctic and Arctic areas,” he said with a laugh.
“We went from village to village, talking about veterinary medicine, wildlife health, and the importance of parasites,” he said. “Everything was being translated into their native language. It was a pretty interesting experience.”
When it came time to name the new species, Verocai’s team decided to credit the Sahtu Region of Canada’s Northwest Territories, where the lungworm larvae were first detected.
“We wanted to name it something meaningful for them in their native language because of the importance of caribou in their culture,” Verocai said. “In North Slavey, one of the dialects for the Dene people, they call the Arctic ‘elegu nene,’ or ‘cold land.’ Varestrongylus is the genus of the parasite, so we named it ‘Varestrongylus from the cold land,’ or Varestrongylus eleguneniensis.”
BACK TO WARMER WEATHER
Once Verocai earned his Ph.D. in 2015, he moved south to begin working as a postdoctoral researcher in the University of South Florida’s Department of Global Health, where he could study a pair of related parasites that he found especially interesting.
His main project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, involved traveling to the West African country of Burkina Faso to study a nematode called Onchocerca volvulus
that causes onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness, in people. This disease is one of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) top 20 neglected tropical diseases.
Verocai also went back to his veterinary roots and spent his spare time studying Onchocerca lupi, an obscure zoonotic parasite that causes a similar disease in dogs and cats.
He has continued to study O. lupi since he began his career at Texas A&M in November 2018; to this day, those searching the parasite on Google will find Verocai’s publications as two of the top three results.
“Parasites are a neglected part of biodiversity because, well, it’s tough to study them,” Verocai said. “Internal parasites, especially, are even more challenging to work with than external ones like fleas and ticks.”
Continuing to rise to this challenge, Verocai has taken on several new projects at the VMBS, including studying Dracunculus medinensis, also known as the Guinea worm.
The Guinea worm is similar to O. volvulus in that this nematode also causes one of the WHO’S top 20 neglected tropical diseases, dracunculiasis (Guinea worm disease). The project is also funded by another well-known organization, The Carter Center.
“The scientific community once thought it was strictly a human parasite, but then we realized that dogs; to a lesser extent, cats; and, in some countries like Ethiopia, baboons
Verocai in Burkina Faso“Parasites are a neglected part of biodiversity because, well, it’s tough to study them. Internal parasites, especially, are even more challenging to work with than external ones like fleas and ticks.”
- DR. GUILHERME VEROCAI
were acting as reservoirs and helping cycle the parasite,” Verocai said.
While the Guinea worm does not usually kill its host, it can cause blindness, blisters, and swelling, all of which negatively impact an individual’s livelihood, both physically and socially.
“Parasites are trying to survive like all of us and, most of the time, killing the host is not an ideal strategy for them to continue on,” Verocai said. “But there is still a big impact on health and general well-being, as well as an economic burden on the infected humans.”
This aspect of parasites translates to animal hosts as well, including pets and food animals.
“That’s what a lot of parasites will do with our pets—the hosts are not dying, but they could be healthier; they’re not living their best life,” Verocai said. “Thinking about animal production, every infected animal is producing less than it could. That’s billions of dollars that go to waste because of parasites impacting production animals.”
Because of the far-reaching negative impacts of parasites on animals, one of Verocai’s roles at the VMBS is directing the Parasitology Diagnostic Laboratory, which helps veterinarians diagnose parasitic infections in companion animals, exotics, livestock, and wildlife.
“Diagnostics is a big portion of my appointment here,” he said. “It’s figuring out which parasites are present, plus triaging the biodiversity of parasites and figuring out what
“Teaching and mentoring are very rewarding. I’m trying to convince everybody that parasites are the most amazing things on Earth. Even though I think I might not be convincing enough, showing how much I care shows that parasites matter.”
- DR. GUILHERME VEROCAIwe don’t know. We will only know how to properly deal with things that we know about.”
These diagnostic services tie in with his research mission; one of Verocai’s current projects involves looking for new diagnostic markers for heartworms, a mosquito-borne parasite of dogs, and other helminths of veterinary and medical importance.
“Diagnostic markers, which are secretory/excretory products of the parasites, will be found in the organism they’re inside, circulating in biofluids like blood,” he said. “Right now, there are diagnostic markers for cancer and various other human diseases, but they are less explored in parasitology and veterinary medicine. There’s a whole world out there to be studied.
“We’ve had projects with heartworms and other filarial worms, trying to figure out which microRNAs they are excreting/secreting,” he said. “Then, for the Guinea worm, we’re adapting and expanding what we were doing for heartworms in a more global health direction. Ideally, we can use the same test to screen samples from any host species.”
TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION
One final aspect of Verocai’s role at the VMBS is educating and mentoring students, from the veterinary students enrolled in his Agents of Disease courses to the graduate students and postdocs working in his lab.
“Teaching and mentoring are very rewarding,” Verocai said. “I’m trying to convince everybody that parasites are the most amazing things on Earth. Even though I might not be convincing enough, showing how much I care shows that parasites matter.”
During the summer of 2021, as a mentor in the VMBS’ Veterinary Medical Scientist Research Training Program (VMSRTP), Verocai spent 14 weeks working with third-year veterinary student Hannah Danks to characterize a new species of lungworm in North American bison.
Recent research by the VMBS’ Dr. James Derr suggests that all bison in North America have some cattle DNA, so a logical assumption would be that the two species share the same parasites as well.
“Bison almost went extinct. How could they keep cycling their own parasites?” Verocai asked. “But when we looked at
samples from different herds, they were not the same as the cattle lungworm. It seems that the bison lungworms are a success story of their own, a parasite that, like bison, survived from the brink of extinction.”
Verocai’s continued promotion of parasitology among Texas A&M’s DVM and graduate students and parasitology residents has already resulted in the formation of the Texas A&M Student Chapter of the American Association of Veterinary Parasitology, which he co-advises with clinical assistant professor Dr. Meriam Saleh.
“We’re trying to fill the gaps and make sure parasitology is there as a career opportunity,” he said. “Did I know I would be a parasitologist when I got into vet school? Of course not. If students do not perceive it as an option, it’s never an option.
“This is why I also have a commitment to diversity,” he continued. “I happen to be gay, I happen to be Brazilian, and that’s part of who I am. It matters. You need to see diversity to be able to respect it. It’s all about finding that passion.” ■
The Verocai Lab, summer 2021For decades, research has blatantly ignored the potential impact a father may have in his child’s development of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, choosing instead to focus on the mother’s contribution; Dr. Michael Golding’s research is changing that.
Story by DORIAN MARTIN
Ranchers have long realized that environmental factors have a significant effect on livestock quality. For example, a drought will place significant physiological stress on a prized bull—and if the bull is bred during this timeframe, his offspring will not inherit his stellar traits.
However, this situation is reversible.
“It’s a standard practice in animal husbandry to let the animal recover for 60-90 days. In a bull, that represents two complete sperm cycles, during which he will be able to make a completely new wave of sperm,” said Dr. Michael Golding, an associate professor in the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS). “The general practice has been to leave that bull alone, to not let him breed until he repopulates his sperm, because when we don’t do this, we see that the offspring are rather lackluster.”
Because Golding grew up on a farm in Southwest Ontario, Canada, and did his graduate work on assisted reproductive technologies and embryo development in cattle, he has long
been familiar with the importance of this practice. Today, as his VMBS research laboratory works to understand the mechanics of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), he’s taking the philosophy behind that practice a step further, questioning whether there are similar implications for human reproduction.
“It was really striking to me that this common knowledge and bedrock foundational practice never made its way into human medicine in any consideration whatsoever,” he said.
Golding’s research focuses on better understanding FASD, which is triggered by the unborn child’s exposure to alcohol while in the womb, and, particularly, whether the father may play a role in the child’s development of FASD.
A GROWING ISSUE
FASD encompasses a group of conditions that can emerge as physical problems, such as poor coordination; problems with vision, hearing, heart, kidneys, or bones; behavioral problems, such as hyperactivity, difficulty with attention, or poor reasoning and judgment; and learning difficulties, such as poor memory, learning disabilities, and speech and language delays.
Often, an individual with FASD experiences a mix of these.
Experts currently believe that approximately 10% of children nationally have this disorder, but making a diagnosis can be difficult.
“Oftentimes, children display subtle forms of birth defects; they may not have physical characteristics that you can readily discern,” Golding said. “They may just have behavioral issues that start to manifest when they get into school, when they start to develop anxiety disorders, problems sitting still, or problems with learning and memory. Then, they get pushed to their pediatrician, who will do diagnostics.”
FASD’s prevalence varies based on geographic location. In Texas, FASD has primarily been diagnosed around the Rio Grande Valley and the Panhandle; there are fewer cases in Central Texas, except for certain urban hotspots.
Situational experiences also contribute to its prevalence.
“There’s been a long history of seeing spikes in FASD in the North, such as when there is a huge snowfall that causes people to be trapped in their houses for long periods of time,” Golding said. “You run out of things to do, so you start to drink.”
The COVID-19 pandemic may lead to a similar spike.
“It would not surprise me if in the coming three years we see, as a result of pregnancies during the pandemic, a cohort of kids who have an increased prevalence of FASD simply because of the pressures, social problems, and issues surrounding the pandemic,” Golding explained. “This is particularly true for couples who conceived while also facing stressors such as working from home while having their kids constantly at home, when school was through an online format that wasn’t holding their attention. There’s stress there, and sometimes at the end of the day, it was like, ‘I need a drink to shake it off.’”
A RECIPE FOR LIFE
Golding, who joined Texas A&M’s faculty in 2009, is building his work on Nobel Prize-winning research that shows that cellular memory—or epigenetics—can be transmitted between one cellular generation to the next, such as from the father to offspring.
The Department of Veterinary Physiology & Pharmacology faculty member likes to describe epigenetics as a cookbook.
“Your genome has these ‘recipes’ for all these different
proteins you need over the course of your life,” he said. “While cooks would use the recipe book to make a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, epigenetics is a bookmark on the DNA that instructs it to read this piece of information at a certain stage, such as during embryonic development.”
Golding is using this approach to try to understand how the consumption of alcohol might change bookmarks in the epigenetic programming.
“We always thought that fetal alcohol syndrome was a toxicity; as the person drank, the cells that were exposed to the alcohol died, and, therefore, you ended up with these deficits,” Golding said. “But there were certain times that a person would drink alcohol and then the unborn child’s stem cells that were exposed to the alcohol would split and go on to develop different parts of the brain—but only one part of the brain would be affected. There was a lack of linear connection that didn’t make sense.”
That realization led to Golding’s “a-ha” moment in relation to FASD.
“Some components of the birth defects associated with FASD had to be programmed,” he said. “As I was reading the literature, I was struck by how blatantly researchers ignored the male contribution. My perspective came from my agricultural background and understanding the role of male epigenetic information in programming the health of the
“The placenta is a crucial organ that very few people ever think of because it’s a transient one, developing during pregnancy and being expelled after birth. It’s probably the most beautiful and noble of all the organs that we have in our body, but it is only with us for a short period of time.”
- DR. MICHAEL GOLDINGoffspring—and, specifically, how it controls the development of the placenta.”
LEARNING FROM THE PLACENTA
The placenta plays a significant role in fetal development— establishing pregnancy, providing oxygen and nutrients to the baby, and removing waste products.
“The placenta is a crucial organ that very few people ever think of because it’s a transient one, developing during pregnancy and being expelled after birth,” Golding said. “It’s probably the most beautiful and noble of all the organs that we have in our body, but it is only with us for a short period of time.”
Because of the placenta’s connection to the child’s mother, Golding’s initial line of research about paternal alcohol exposure’s contribution to FASD was met with resistance.
“The field is very myopic in terms of how they view FASD, continuing to frame the disorder as a problem stemming from the mother,” he said. “If you pick up a bottle of beer, it says, ‘Warning: it’s the woman’s fault.’ So why would we look at the male’s role?”
However, thanks to grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Keck Foundation, Golding started delving into his hypothesis that men may, in fact, play a role in the development of FASD in unborn children.
“We’re seeing that alcohol changes something in sperm, changes the memory that is supposed to be transmitted to the offspring, and it affects the placenta,” he said.
Standard OB/GYN practice involves weighing this afterbirth and then throwing it away, the result of which has been that potentially valuable information about child development has been overlooked.
“We really don’t ever look to see what the condition of the placenta might be telling us,” Golding said, adding that only recently have researchers started evaluating the placenta in cases of preeclampsia, a blood-pressure disorder. “In these cases, the placenta is burned out and you can see that the placentas are falling apart.”
EXPANDING UNDERSTANDING OF FASD
Luke Dotson ’22, now in his first semester of medical school, working in Golding’s lab.
As they focus on the epigenetics of FASD, the Golding team is analyzing the placenta in new ways to better understand its
contribution to gestational issues beyond preeclampsia.
“A lot of the health defects that we see in FASD kids— including their metabolic problems, growth delays, and problems with cognition, learning, and memory—are all secondary symptoms of this placental failure during gestation,” Golding explained.
One of their studies shows that a persistent memory is being transmitted to offspring through the placenta and that this memory is associated with health defects.
“We’re trying to figure out how this memory persists and how to measure that memory,” Golding said. “We’re also trying to figure out how much of an impact that memory might be having on other facets of health and development and human medicine.”
By reviewing bookmarks in the father’s sperm and comparing these epigenetic tags with bookmarks in the mother’s placenta, the team has found that alcohol-exposed sperm have abnormal bookmarks that also show up in the placenta, which may be causing issues in fetal development.
“We’ve essentially developed a correlation between abnormalities in the sperm and abnormalities in the placenta,” Golding said. “We can’t see differences in the embryo, but we can see them in the placenta. That suggests
that whatever we are studying is being transmitted from the dad to the placenta, and it has a very real effect on blood flow, hormone production, and the different things that you need a placenta to do.”
The researchers also have identified markers of stress in the male offspring of alcohol-exposed males.
“In our mouse model, male offspring are more prone to exhibit growth restriction and birth defects than females. We and the rest of the research field are still struggling to explain this,” Golding said. “We think it is linked to differences in fetal growth between males and females; males grow slowly in early gestation and then turn on the jets toward the end, while females are slow and steady. Perhaps the more conservative growth pattern of females protects them from these developmental defects.”
COMPLICATING IN VITRO FERTILIZATION
Golding’s team also is looking at previously unrealized consequences of a father-to-be’s drinking—the effect on in vitro fertilization (IVF).
“We have found that male drinking is hugely detrimental, with between 50-66% reduction in the pregnancy success rates when there is paternal alcohol exposure,” he said.
Golding examines a placenta sample through a microscope with the sample displaying on the screen above.“This really suggests that if you’re a couple struggling to get pregnant, the first thing that needs to happen is that both parents should stop drinking.”
Noting the expense and emotional stress that is part of IVF, Golding believes clinics should be as concerned about the father’s lifestyle as much as the mother’s choices.
“If you’re going into and paying for these in vitro fertilization cycles—which are enormously expensive—if the male’s drinking, you’re wasting a huge amount of money and exacerbating the stress on the mom trying to get pregnant,” Golding said. “The male’s drinking is a huge impediment to the success rates of this procedure.”
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Ultimately, Golding’s research has shown, for the first time, that the father’s alcohol consumption is just as important as the mother’s during pregnancy.
“Every alcohol researcher across the country is only studying the mom drinking, but we’re finding that the phenotypes are not the same when mom drinks and when both parents drink,” Golding said. “We’re seeing that the phenotypes are different depending on whether it was dad,
mom, or both, with both being often much more detrimental than either parent individually.”
The team also has determined that the quantity of paternal alcohol consumption matters; the mother’s placenta is healthier if the father has limited or no alcohol consumption during conception, as there are significant consequences if the father drinks the equivalent of two to four glasses of wine or four bottles of beer a day.
Golding also hopes his research will help change and expand the story around pregnancy—and that has significant implications for couples as well as OB/GYN practitioners.
“We’ve had this story that explains why it’s bad for a woman to drink during pregnancy, but there’s been no consideration of male health in any dimension,” he said. “We need to push back and change this narrative that it’s the woman’s fault. We now know that there’s actually much more information coming from males than just DNA; there are a whole host of molecules and memories being imparted that influence fetal health and pregnancy success.” ■
VERO researcher Dr. Robert Valeris-Chacin uses novel approaches that combine sequencing bacteria DNA and complex computer models in an effort to better understand— and ultimately treat—a debilitating and deadly cattle disease.
Story by DORIAN MARTIN
As the worldwide demand for beef skyrockets, the cattle industry has struggled to find an answer for Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD).
BRD outbreaks account for approximately 75% of feedlot morbidity and 50-70% of all feedlot deaths, while also resulting in annual economic losses of up to $900 million.
These losses have a significant impact on industry epicenters such as the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico, an area home to 2.5 million beef cattle at any given time; approximately 30% of the United States’ beef cattle are fed or finished at the region’s feedlots.
BRD’s complexity makes it difficult to research—and hard to predict where it will strike.
Now, Dr. Robert Valeris-Chacin, an assistant professor in the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical
Sciences (VMBS), is trying new and innovative approaches that combine laboratory work, including DNA sequencing of bacteria, and complex computer models to gain a better understanding of this debilitating and often deadly disease.
Valeris-Chacin works with the Veterinary Education, Research, & Outreach (VERO) program, a groundbreaking partnership between the VMBS and West Texas A&M University. Located in Canyon, the VERO program has established an infrastructure that connects students and researchers from the two Texas A&M University System entities to the citizens of the Texas Panhandle, including producers of a significant portion of the nation’s food livestock industry as well as rural veterinarians.
A DIFFERENT BREED
Valeris-Chacin brings both depth and breadth of knowledge to the challenge of understanding BRD.
Originally from Venezuela, he began working in radiology and bovine research while earning his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Universidad del Zulia in 2001. He also earned a master’s degree in immunology before joining the university in a faculty position and working primarily on
infectious diseases in ruminants for a decade.
However, because the nation’s research funding was limited, Valeris-Chacin moved to the U.S. to pursue a Ph.D. in epidemiology at the University of Minnesota.
That coursework offered him the opportunity to dive deeply into his passion for mathematics and also challenged him to look at the causes of diseases and the risk factors that determine disease patterns.
“A classical epidemiologist is pretty computer and data centric,” he explained. “I’m a particular kind of epidemiologist because I have a lot of experience in the lab—that’s not very common among epidemiologists—and working with complex and computationally intensive models is very unusual for a veterinarian.”
UNRAVELING BRD’S COMPLEXITY
In 2021, Valeris-Chacin brought his unique perspective to VERO, which is located in the heart of the U.S. beef industry and led him to focus his research on BRD.
“It’s refreshing to return to this area of study,” he said. “I am a firm believer that scientists need to answer societal needs, and in this case, that need is to improve beef production.”
BRD presents one of the major challenges to that production. This disease complex is caused by a variety of viral and bacterial pathogens that can affect cattle, specifically
“We all believe that working toward a future where we depend less on antibiotics in human beings and animals is probably the way to go. We do need to invest more into developing alternatives, especially probiotics, prebiotics, vaccines, and phages, which are viruses that attack bacteria.”
- DR. ROBERT VALERIS-CHACINin the lower respiratory tract and lungs through pneumonia or in the upper respiratory tract through rhinitis, tracheitis, or bronchitis.
Gaining a better understanding of BRD may help researchers—and eventually veterinarians—recommend better treatments while also avoiding antibiotics.
“Currently, when cattle show symptoms compatible with BRD, they are pulled. If they have fever, they will receive antibiotics,” Valeris-Chacin explained. “There is societal pressure to reduce the use of antibiotics in animals in general. Therefore, reducing the cases of BRD will result in less antibiotics being administered to beef cattle.”
Fortunately, Valeris-Chacin already had started delving into similarly complex respiratory diseases as part of his doctoral studies, coauthoring several papers with his co-adviser Dr. Maria Pieters, who is a world-renowned expert in respiratory diseases in swine. In the future, Valeris-Chacin wants to research feedlot variables and identify which elements in the animal’s environment are useful in predicting the development of BRD.
TAKING A DIFFERENT APPROACH
One of the things that sets Valeris-Chacin apart is his focus on Mycoplasma bovis (M. bovis), which is recognized as part of BRD but is not studied as much. As a result, little is known about this bacterial species.
Recent findings show that M. bovis increases in the respiratory tract of animals that have acute BRD cases.
“That prompted me earlier this year to conduct a complex epidemiological analysis that provides evidence that early in the process of BRD, there is at least an association between M. bovis and the main bacteria in BRD—Mannheimia haemolytica,” he said. “That has not been shown before.”
This finding provides solid ground for Valeris-Chacin to continue to look for more evidence about bacteria’s role in the acute phases of BRD. However, this focus also is among the hardest to study.
“You cannot see bacteria, but M. bovis is one of the smallest bacteria that we know of,” Valeris-Chacin explained. “They also evolved to be parasitic, so they depend on animals to live; because they cannot thrive by themselves outside of
the host, if we want to culture them in the lab, we need to provide adequate conditions so they can thrive.”
M. bovis also often remains inside the host, a key piece of information that can be forgotten by researchers working in the lab. Mycoplasmas—bacteria without cell walls, such as M. bovis—tend to produce chronic conditions as a result of their lingering, Valeris-Chacin noted.
IDENTIFYING STRAINS
Valeris-Chacin is developing a technique to help researchers study mycoplasmas.
“There are good techniques now to diagnose mycoplasmas. For instance, we have molecular techniques such as PCR that can detect very small amounts of DNA, but they can only tell you that it is M. bovis,” he explained. “The technique I’m developing has the potential to give us much more information, such as the specific strains of M. bovis. This is like having a method that allows you to know that a sample is from a dog and you’re also able to identify what breed it is.”
This information is important because bacteria, like people and animals, are unique.
“We know there is a lot of diversity within bacteria. We know that not all M. bovis are the same. But in research, it’s very difficult to get to that information without culturing the bacteria,” Valeris-Chacin said. “The neat thing about this technique, which is called targeted enrichment, is that we can have that information without culturing the bacteria.”
Valeris-Chacin believes this technique eventually will help researchers better understand M. bovis, which is prevalent in cattle but doesn’t always develop into BRD. He hopes to have the diagnostic technique developed for use as a research tool in a year; with technological and computational advances, he believes a less costly version will be available in five to six years that can be used as a diagnostic tool in feedlots.
MORE COMPLICATIONS
However, more pieces of this complicated puzzle still need to be put together.
“Because the bacteria that are involved in BRD are present in healthy animals, we are struggling to understand the determinants of when they become pathogenic,” ValerisChacin said. “We know that viruses creating viral infections are the first steps for BRD, but in some animals, it seems like other stressors are very important.”
Researchers also don’t know what triggers BRD onset.
“We’re still struggling to understand how these bacteria transition from commensals (microbes that reside on the surface of the body or at mucosa without harming health) to pathogens. That transition is difficult to study, so we need more finely detailed diagnostics to get to that understanding,” he said. “One part of this is to know the strain-level
information, because in the future we may be able to determine the strain’s genes that allow it to be pathogenic— or instead, it might be the environmental conditions that the animal is experiencing.”
Determining the genetic information of M. bovis and the environmental factors that contribute to BRD opens the door to implementing selective, preventive use of antibiotics. More targeted approaches to antibiotics, like those being developed by VERO’s researchers, implies greater profits for the producer.
IMPROVING TREATMENTS
The academic literature is unclear on how antibiotic use in animals affects human beings.
“There are various stances in the scientific field; some see a clear causal link and others feel it’s not clear, because it’s a very complex issue,” Valeris-Chacin said.
Because antibiotic resistance in human beings is a huge problem, Valeris-Chacin recognizes the delicate balance the animal livestock industry faces.
“One goal is to produce enough animal protein that is affordable to feed the world, because we need it,” he said. “The other is to reduce or eliminate the antibiotic use in animals. But we’re still way behind to have strategies that can be as effective as antibiotics to prevent and control some of the infectious diseases.”
Ultimately, Valeris-Chacin believes researchers such as those at VERO can help create a more viable health system that benefits both the animal and human beings.
“We all believe that working toward a future where we depend less on antibiotics in human beings and animals is probably the way to go. We do need to invest more into developing alternatives, especially probiotics, prebiotics, vaccines, and phages, which are viruses that attack bacteria,” he said. “There are a lot of incentives from funding agencies to develop antibiotic alternatives, but I believe we need to be more aggressive in funding so that we can put more bright minds into solving this problem.” ■
“He’s doing absolutely wonderfully. I’m just so thankful for Dr. Stoner, the entire team, and everything they’ve done for him.”
- VICKI HARTNETTStory by MEGAN MYERS Veterinary cardiologists and surgeons from the Texas A&M Small Animal Teaching Hospital collaborated on a rare procedure to save a young tabby cat with heart failure.
At only 5 months old, Whiskey the kitten was diagnosed with congestive heart failure, a condition with potentially deadly consequences.
But thanks to committed owners and a talented veterinary team willing to try a procedure in a way never done at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (VMBS) Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH), Whiskey got a second chance at life.
DISCOVERING THE PROBLEM
Whiskey entered Vicki and Chris Hartnett’s lives in June 2020 on one of their daily walks near a heavily wooded area in their hometown of Spring.
“We were just walking past an empty lot and I’m chattering away, and, all of a sudden, Chris stopped and said he heard a little meow,” Vicki said.
The couple spotted a tiny orange tabby, about 5 weeks old, running out of the forest, straight toward them; although they looked for a long time, they were never able to find its mother, or any other cats, nearby.
Taking the kitten home with them, they quickly fell in love with Whiskey, named for his golden color, and decided to keep him.
But trouble struck in September when Whiskey began acting sick and vomiting repeatedly. Their local veterinarian discovered a heart murmur and suggested the couple take Whiskey to the SATH’s Cardiology Service.
“Whiskey’s heart murmur was so loud that his actual chest wall vibrated with it,” said Dr. Caitlin Stoner, a former SATH cardiology resident. “The louder the heart murmur is, the more likely it is to be pathologic (diseased) or something else significant, and Whiskey’s murmur was truthfully about as loud as it could get.”
After a series of tests with ultrasound and chest X-rays to look at Whiskey’s heart, Stoner and VMBS professor and cardiologist Dr. Ashley Saunders found that what was causing the heart murmur was much worse than expected.
“Whiskey had a ventricular septal defect, which is a hole in the wall between the two chambers of the heart that allowed blood to flow from one side to the other; it shouldn’t normally do this,” Stoner said. “We see this fairly commonly in cats, but the thing about Whiskey’s that was so significant was the size of it—it took up a huge chunk of his heart wall.”
This hole wasn’t the only problem with Whiskey’s heart—he also had mitral valve dysplasia, meaning the valve on the left side of his heart was formed abnormally, could not open or close correctly, and was leaking significantly.
“Those two problems together led him to have severe heart enlargement at a very young age and early onset congestive heart failure,” Stoner said.
While all of the blood in Whiskey’s heart should have been
circulating throughout his entire body, some of it was instead only going from the right side of the heart to the lungs and then to the left side of the heart and straight through the hole to the right side again in the wrong direction.
This separate blood flow that was only going between the lungs and heart, combined with the malfunctioning valve, was filling the left half of Whiskey’s heart with extra blood and causing it to swell. The abnormal blood flow through the hole was also causing the loud murmur.
“When those chambers of the heart max out on capacity for what they can hold, blood can back up to the level of the lungs and can actually put fluid within the lungs, causing breathing difficulties,” Stoner said.
Despite looking at a very grim situation, Whiskey’s owners refused to give up hope.
When the SATH team suggested a rare procedure that could be performed in a manner they had never done before, but that had the potential to greatly improve Whiskey’s lifespan and quality of life, the Hartnetts decided to go for it.
“From the way that Dr. Stoner explained it and all of the different hands that were going to be involved, we knew that if Whiskey was going to have a chance of success, we were in the right place,” Chris said.
TRYING SOMETHING NEW
Before Whiskey came in for his surgery, a procedure called pulmonary artery banding, his SATH team spent a couple
months planning, practicing, and reaching out to experts.
“It took us a bit of time to make sure we were as prepared as we possibly could be and had a really good plan of action,” Stoner said. “The biggest thing to emphasize about Whiskey is what a huge team effort he was; so many people came together to make that pulmonary artery banding possible.”
Finally, in mid-November, veterinarians and technicians from the Cardiology, Anesthesiology, and Soft Tissue Surgery services gathered in the operating room to try to save Whiskey’s life.
For pulmonary artery banding, a band made of a strong, synthetic resin is wrapped around the pulmonary artery and tightened to control blood flow.
“That tight belt around the artery makes it harder for blood flow to leave the right side of the heart and go out to the lungs. If it’s harder for flow to leave the right side of the heart, then less flow enters and builds up in the left side of the heart and less blood goes through the hole,” Stoner said.
Even though the hole in the heart was still there after inserting the band, the reduced fluid buildup in Whiskey’s heart meant that the hole was no longer causing the backed-up blood and resulting heart enlargement that were threatening Whiskey’s life.
As Dr. Kelley Thieman, a soft tissue surgeon and VMBS associate professor, was attaching and tightening the band, the cardiologists used a catheter inside the artery to measure the blood pressure and make sure the band was at the perfect tightness.
Once the band was tightened and the catheter removed, the surgeons used a special suture donated by St. Joseph Hospital in College Station to seal up the artery.
“We needed a small suture on a tiny needle that wouldn’t cut the vessel, but since we don’t put sutures in those great vessels all that often, we don’t carry the needle on that size of suture,” Thieman said. “St. Joseph was happy to donate it, which was fantastic.”
A HAPPY ENDING
Once the procedure was finished and Whiskey had some time to recover, his veterinary team was overjoyed that follow-up scans showed that Whiskey’s heart had shrunk and he no longer had any fluid backing up into his lungs.
“He still has the murmur and it is still impressively loud, but under the surface, things look better,” Stoner said. “He would’ve had big problems with his heart disease in the very near future without the procedure. We reset the clock for him and were able to buy him some really good years with his family at home.”
In the two years since his surgery, Whiskey has continued to do well and is living a rambunctious life like any other young cat. His owners have even adopted a little kitten
“The thing that I’m so proud about from Whiskey’s case is the fact that the whole hospital came together for one little cat; it was just this phenomenal team effort. It’s so neat to see how well he’s doing now and how many people are in his corner.”
- DR. CAITLIN STONER“sister” for him to play with, and he has no trouble keeping up with her.
“He’s doing absolutely wonderfully,” Vicki said. “I’m just so thankful for Dr. Stoner, the entire team, and everything they’ve done for him.”
Every six months when Whiskey comes back to the SATH for a recheck, his veterinary team is reminded of how his procedure was only possible because of the teamwork and multi-service care the hospital is known for.
“The thing that I’m so proud about from Whiskey’s case is the fact that the whole hospital came together for one little cat; it was just this phenomenal team effort,” Stoner said. “It’s so neat to see how well he’s doing now and how many people are in his corner.” ■
Whiskey and Lily
Stoner and Whiskey
Dr. Cambridge Coy ’22 has known since her second year as a student at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) that she wanted to become a veterinary radiologist.
In the years since then, her classes, part-time jobs, and time as a rotating intern at the VMBS’ Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH) have only strengthened her goal. One of her most influential experiences, however, was a research project she hadn’t originally planned on doing.
During Coy’s final year of veterinary school, Dr. Jay Griffin, a VMBS associate professor of veterinary radiology, invited her to join him in studying CT scans of dogs with American canine hepatozoonosis (ACH), a rare infectious disease.
Dogs acquire ACH after eating an adult Gulf Coast tick infected with a protozoan known as Hepatozoon. The condition is known to cause fever, weight loss, nonspecific pain, and lethargy and can sometimes be fatal. Unfortunately, the disease also can be difficult to definitively diagnose
Story by MEGAN MYERS
because of imprecise and costly testing methods.
Coy and Griffin were investigating an additional finding of ACH that may also hold a clue to an earlier diagnosis— strange bone growth visible in CT scans.
“Very few clinicians image the spine of dogs with this condition because no one ever thought there was a reason to,” Coy said. “However, we found four cases where the clinicians ordered CT scans of the spine, looking for causes of spinal pain, and the dogs were later diagnosed with this rare
infectious disease. All four of those dogs had the same weird changes to their spine.”
The dogs in their study had proliferative lesions on their spinal vertebrae, specifically coming from the periosteum, a complex fibrous membrane of blood vessels and nerves that wraps around bones. These lesions seemed to appear without any other identifiable cause besides ACH and were not cancerous or otherwise destructive.
Although no one knows why, it is well documented that
Dr. Cambridge Coy, Danielle Bell, and Jami Woodthis proliferation can often be seen on long bones of the legs, such as the femur, humerus, and tibia.
Because CT scans are becoming more common in veterinary medicine, spinal scans like those used in this study may become an effective tool for creating an earlier suspicion of ACH.
On a more personal level, the project gave Coy a new outlook on the impact radiology can have in veterinary medicine, and she was listed as the first author on the published case report, an impressive feat for any student.
A UNIQUE PATH
Like many others who go on to pursue a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, Coy wanted to become a veterinarian for as long as she can remember, which some friends and family considered odd, since she wasn’t allowed to have pets growing up.
Coy was raised by her grandparents in the small town of Kaufman, Texas, and her grandmother was terrified of anything with four furry legs. So, when she was accepted into veterinary school, everyone was shocked.
“My grandmother asked, ‘Are you really going to go?’ and I replied, ‘Yeah, I’ve only been talking about it for 20 years!’” Coy said.
Coy attended Rogers State University in Oklahoma for her undergraduate degree in medical molecular biology, which
“It’s very important to me that I am a good clinician before pursuing my specialty. I’ve learned the impact a radiologist has on patient care and treatment plans. While I am excited for the future, I’ll cherish this time working with other specialties and hope to work somewhere that lets me interact with other specialties often.”
- DR. CAMBRIDGE COY ’22provided a distinct, One Health perspective for entering veterinary school.
“We had normal classes like anatomy and physiology, but there was also a strong emphasis on botany and zoology because Rogers State has a strong focus on the environmental science,” she said. “There’s even a nature reserve on campus.
“The animal classes available to me were very different from the animal science program here at Texas A&M because I didn’t have nutrition or any husbandry classes. It was more like wildlife, taxonomy, and native Oklahoma ecology,” she said. “I was actually the only student in my class interested in veterinary medicine.”
These classes gave her a unique perspective that also upheld an interest in wildlife medicine and exotic animals, an area she continued to pursue throughout veterinary school. She even took the time to become a certified postmortem sample collector for Chronic Wasting Disease, a fatal disease that affects members of the deer family.
During that time, she also took advantage of any opportunities that helped her become more comfortable working with large animals.
“No pets growing up also meant no large animal experience,” she said. “I wouldn’t have made it through my equine skills labs without Dr. Glennon Mays taking the time to teach me how to relax around horses.”
It wasn’t until her second year at the VMBS that she would narrow her fascinations and cultivate a true passion.
VISUALIZING HER CAREER
When Coy began her Introduction to Diagnostic Imaging class in the spring of her second year, she was surprised to find a hidden talent for reading radiographs, a skill many veterinary students struggle with at first.
“Diagnostic imaging is really hard, but I actually enjoyed the challenges,” she said.
She decided to pursue this subject further by starting a part-time job in the SATH’s Diagnostic Imaging Service.
“I took all of the radiographs after hours for the Emergency and ICU Services, so I saw a lot of chests, abdomens, and broken bones,” Coy said. “It was a really great job and the
Coysupervisors were awesome and really accommodating. I got to meet a lot of the faculty I needed to know moving into fourth year, so that was cool, too. It just further solidified that I wanted to be a radiologist.”
Before being able to apply for a radiology residency, Coy needed to complete a rotating internship like the one offered at Texas A&M, which allows new veterinarians to rotate through the SATH’s many services while continuing to get mentorship and guidance from VMBS faculty members.
“It’s very important to me that I am a good clinician before pursuing my specialty,” she said. “I’ve learned the impact a radiologist has on patient care and treatment plans. While I am excited for the future, I’ll cherish this time working with other specialties and hope to work somewhere that lets me interact with other specialties often.”
To no one’s surprise, Coy’s favorite service to rotate through so far has been diagnostic imaging, and from her experiences with radiology, she can pinpoint a couple types of cases as her favorites to image.
“Cancer can do really crazy things and always makes very interesting scans,” she said. “Checking for cancer metastasis on advanced imaging can be unpredictable and it is amazing what these horrible little cells can do. From an imaging perspective, you’re constantly kept on your toes. I hope
one day I can use this fascination with cancer in diagnostic imaging to further the collective efforts of oncologists to diagnose and treat cancer earlier and more effectively.”
Although she does not have exact plans for the rest of her career, Coy is considering staying within academia or using teleradiology to reach a larger clientele.
“I love the discussions that academia provides, and you get a lot more follow up with your cases compared to teleradiology. That’s really important to me and I think it helps with accuracy and learning,” Coy said. “Teleradiology is also very important for helping people and their pets who don’t have access to a full team of specialists. You get to help people from all over the place—even different countries— and that’s what all of this is really about.”
For now, she is enjoying getting to spend as much time at Texas A&M as possible, and she advises current Aggie veterinary students to consider the internship offered here.
“There are many people who will recommend that you leave to get a more diverse experience, but for a variety of reasons that’s not always feasible. Texas A&M has a wonderful program; I’m learning a lot,” she said. “I just want to let others know that there’s more than one way to achieve their goals.” ■
“If you have everything already mapped out, the use of surgical guides decreases the surgical time, which decreases the risk for things like infection. If you’re free handing the procedure (without a guide), there’s also a little bit more of a tendency to be less accurate.”
- DR. KATE BARNESDr. Kate Barnes’ pioneering use of 3D printing and motion-tracking technology offers Texas A&M orthopedic patients cutting-edge treatment options, while placing the Small Animal Teaching Hospital at the forefront in exploring these innovations in animal healthcare.
Story by ALYSSA SCHAECHINGERWhen you walk into a veterinarian’s office, you expect to see photos of furry friends, anatomy charts, and a computer upon which your doctor will make notes about your pet. When you walk into Dr. Kate Barnes’ office, you see all of this with a futuristic touch of 3D printers.
A clinical associate professor at Texas A&M University’s School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) who specializes in small animal orthopedics, Barnes devotes her research and clinical practice at the VMBS’ Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH) to the cutting edge by defining 3D printing’s role in health care and implementing mobility assessment technology into veterinary medicine as part of the Gait Lab.
VETERINARY MEDICINE IN 3D
Using the 3D printers in Barnes’ office to print biocompatible materials puts the VMBS on the cusp of further developing veterinary medicine. While 3D models are more common in human medicine to create custom-fit replacement parts and medical devices, Barnes said the practice of using 3D printed surgical guides is still in the developmental phases in veterinary medicine.
Of particular interest to Barnes is working to implement 3D models into her operative protocols, both in the planning phase of surgery and during the actual procedure.
“We can do a couple things with the 3D printers,” she said. “One is that we can look at the bones with our 3D software and do some virtual surgical planning; it is a little easier to assess some of the limbs and bones when you're looking at them in 3D. We also can actually print out the models so that we can assess deformities and fractures during the process of planning surgeries, and we can practice those surgeries using the models.”
One of the most common issues Barnes and her team treat in dogs, and occasionally cats, using printed 3D models is angular limb deformities, a condition in which the limb is not straight. Angular limb deformities can be the result of trauma or improper growth and are commonly treated surgically by making cuts in the animal’s bone, which allows the deformed limb to be accurately realigned.
To ensure the cut is accurate and efficient, SATH orthopedic surgeons can print 3D surgical guides, which are tailormade templates developed using special software during the surgical planning stage. Once guides are printed, they
are attached to a bone during surgery, showing the surgeon exactly where and at what angle to cut to correct a deformity. Guides are beneficial because they are customized to the exact size and shape of each individual patient.
“If you have everything already mapped out, the use of surgical guides decreases the surgical time, which decreases the risk for things like infection,” Barnes said. “If you're free handing the procedure (without a guide), there's also a little bit more of a tendency to be less accurate.
“So, guides help with the timing in surgery, help with the accuracy in surgery, and help shorten the time that a dog is under anesthesia,” she said.
One of the current challenges of moving 3D printing more mainstream is the high price faced by veterinarians interested in developing their own models and guides, which includes the cost of the software, printers, and the biocompatible materials that are safe to use on living organisms.
Fortunately, because the rewards outweigh the cost of the equipment, these resources are available at Texas A&M for use with veterinary patients and treatments are offered at a price that is accessible to owners, Barnes said.
MOBILIZING THE FUTURE OF MOBILITY
In addition to 3D printing, Barnes, along with other researchers at the SATH, are helping dogs improve their mobility in the new Gait Lab. Barnes’ work in the Gait Lab
is unique, both furthering research and putting the use of motion-tracking technology into medical practice.
The VMBS is one of the only veterinary schools and the SATH is one of the only veterinary practices with access to this technology, which performs two different kinds of assessments.
The first is called kinematic assessment, which allows VMBS researchers to examine joint and limb movement using small reflective balls. Barnes compares this technology, which they’re currently only using for research purposes, to that used to create CGI effects in movies.
“It's the same type of technology,” she said. “We can put small reflective balls on the dogs as they walk, and we have cameras that pick up their movement so we can analyze it.”
The second type of assessment, called kinetic assessment, uses plates to determine how much weight a dog is bearing on each leg. VMBS clinicians have used this tool both with the SATH’s orthopedic patients and in many research projects.
The results produced in the Gait Lab enable researchers to monitor a dog’s joint motion or even detect subtle lameness. If a dog is favoring one leg due to pain, the new technology allows Barnes and her team to see this in the data points.
The data gathered in the Gait Lab allows Barnes and her fellow researchers to quantitatively monitor a dog’s mobility. Prior to using this technology, most postoperative mobility data was subjective, relying on the researcher and pet
owner’s perspective to monitor a dog’s progress.
“During a dog’s recovery, the placebo effect occurs in owners and veterinarians,” Barnes shared. “When we do treatments on animals, people want to believe that they're getting better.
“The Gait Lab is great because it gives us an objective number for how much weight a dog is bearing on their leg, instead of having to rely on just, ‘I think it looks pretty good.’ It helps us track them over time and really be able to tell the impact of what we've done for them,” she said.
Because the kinetic assessment technology used with patients in the Gait Lab is not typically available at private veterinary practices, Texas A&M is one of the only places in the state where patients can experience its benefit; as such, the SATH and the work being conducted in the Gait Lab have the potential to make a large impact on veterinary medicine.
THE FOREFRONT OF VETERINARY MEDICINE
Texas A&M continues to move veterinary research into the future by empowering work like Barnes’ research in 3D
printing and the Gait Lab.
These technologies are still relatively new in terms of veterinary surgical technology, and Barnes is one of few practitioners dedicating her career to their advancement.
“They’re a little bit more common in human medicine. It's something that is becoming more available in veterinary medicine, but it's often more time consuming,” she said. “There are other universities that do it, but it's definitely something that's still up and coming.”
Barnes is also helping ensure that these technologies will grow in the future by passing on her knowledge and experiences to students.
“I do a lecture on 3D printing in angular limb deformities,” she said. “Students will usually look at the models together, look at the guides if we have them, and talk about the deformity and what things we're going to do to correct it.”
Because of Barnes’ work, as well as other innovations in research and patient care being explored at Texas A&M, the SATH will be home to many exciting breakthroughs in the coming years.
As Barnes continues to help pioneer this movement, she looks to the future with excitement.
“It's coming out more and more in veterinary medicine, so hopefully we'll get the opportunities to use it even more,” she said. “If you know any cases, any dogs with crooked legs, send them over. We'd be happy to see them.” ■
“They’re a little bit more common in human medicine. It’s something that is becoming more available in veterinary medicine, but it’s often more time consuming. There are other universities that do it, but it’s definitely something that’s still up and coming.”
- DR. KATE BARNES3D printed “bones”
“Robotic-assisted surgery is very futuristic. Veterinarians have seen more and more desire for minimally invasive procedures because it’s what we get as humans. Looking at ways to bring this tool into veterinary medicine is keeping up with the peak of what’s being offered to humans for
Story by RACHEL KNIGHT
The introduction of endoscopy, a surgical procedure that uses cameras and instruments in a small incision rather than the large incisions required for open surgery, is one of the greatest successes in medical history. Before the introduction of endoscopy, large problems required large incisions. Today, a few tiny openings paired with small cameras and rigid surgical tools are all that’s typically required for a surgeon to successfully perform most surgeries in human beings and many surgeries in animals. While endoscopy is widely recognized as the top practice for many surgical procedures, medical and technological
advancements aim to further improve endoscopic surgeries.
Dr. Kelley Thieman, the Nancy & Michael Shaw ‘68 Chair in the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences’ (VMBS) Small Animal Clinical Sciences (VSCS) department, is among eight veterinarians who traveled to Nancy, France, in the summer of 2022 to train with the da Vinci Surgical System, robotic-assisted equipment that is on the cusp of endoscopic surgical advancements.
“Robotic-assisted surgery is very futuristic,” Thieman explained. “Veterinarians have seen more and more desire for minimally invasive procedures because it’s what we get
Dr. Kelley Thieman became one of the first veterinary surgeons in the world to explore the art of robotic-assisted surgery by training on the da Vinci Surgical System last summer in France.surgery.”
as humans. Looking at ways to bring this tool into veterinary medicine is keeping up with the peak of what’s being offered to humans for surgery.
“Working with the da Vinci system was really cool. It’s a novelty in veterinary medicine, but it’s starting to become more common for human procedures,” Thieman said. “We were the first group of veterinarians to train with this equipment, and it was really neat to be a part of that group.
“I think we should work to offer surgical options in veterinary medicine that are offered in human medicine,” she said. “This training was a first step in doing that with roboticassisted surgeries.”
Thieman, who practices soft tissue and minimally invasive surgery at the VMBS’ Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH), routinely performs laparoscopic surgeries, an endoscopic surgery performed in the abdomen.
While endoscopy ushered in a new era of minimally invasive surgery, requiring only a few small cuts to complete major surgeries, it also brought new limitations to a surgeon’s movement in the affected body cavity because traditional endoscopic equipment is limited to rigid movements.
Robotic-assisted endoscopic surgeries add the benefit of circular, wrist-like movements.
“Laparoscopically, stitching things is really difficult because you don’t have any wrist motion and that’s how we suture,” Thieman shared. “But with the robot, it is a lot easier because all of a sudden, you have the wrist motion. So it’s almost like tiny hands in there instead of the rigid instruments because the robot can move like a wrist would move.”
Minimally invasive procedures also have a smaller chance of surgical site infection than open procedures, Thieman pointed out.
In addition to the improved range of motion, the da Vinci system offers cameras with increased visibility, and the equipment filters out hand tremors to help the surgeon move each instrument with smoother precision.
“Your fingers get velcroed into place on two different hand controls. Then you begin and you’re in control of the instruments. What you see, of course, is the instrument in the patient, not your hands on the controls,” Thieman said. “It can pick up all of your little motions. There’s also a foot pedal that allows you to change between instruments and move your camera around.”
Robotic surgical systems like the da Vinci also improve visibility into the body cavity with high-resolution, 3D displays.
“The visualization is really good because you’re really close—it’s magnified and illuminated,” Thieman shared. “Visually, it’s almost like you’re standing inside the cavity.”
Thieman’s experience training with the da Vinci system concluded in just five days, but the experience working with the robotic-assisted surgical technology excited her about the
Thieman trains at the da Vinci console with her hands velcroed into place.
In robotic-assisted surgery, the patient is a few feet away from the surgeon.
Robotic-assisted surgery improves visibility for surgeons by providing clear, 3D images of the patient.
future of veterinary medicine and the role the VMBS plays in developing that future.
She explained that while robotic-assisted surgical technology is more developed for humans, it’s still a novelty in the field of veterinary medicine.
The new, next-generation small animal teaching and research hospital currently being planned at the VMBS provides an opportunity to purchase robotic-assisted surgical equipment. Doing so would place Texas A&M faculty, researchers, clinicians, and students on the cusp of defining robotic-assisted surgical approaches in veterinary medicine.
It would also introduce new potential for collaboration with Texas A&M Health and other professional and academic units on campus.
“In human medicine, there’s a binder on the front of the machine that shows how to set up the equipment for human
surgery,” Thieman said. “Veterinarians don’t have that. Our patients are a different shape than human patients. So finding those locations would be step one in introducing robotic-assisted surgeries to veterinary medicine.”
Writing the book on how to use systems like the da Vinci begins with access to the technology. The initial purchase of a da Vinci surgical system costs $2 million, while a training version of the system starts at about $200,000, Thieman said.
Opportunities to fund cutting-edge veterinary equipment like the da Vinci surgical system abound in the nextgeneration small animal teaching and research hospital fundraising campaign. Those interested in contributing to the cusp of veterinary surgical advancement can learn more about giving opportunities at tx.ag/NextGenVetHospital
“I have an interest in minimally invasive surgery, and robotic-assisted surgery really pairs well with that because it enhances laparoscopic- or thoracoscopic (surgery in the chest)-type surgery where you’re doing surgery through keyhole incisions,” Thieman said. “To be able to offer our clients and our patients what is being offered to human patients is important, and robotic-assisted surgery is the next step in that.” ■
“To be able to offer our clients and our patients what is being offered to human patients is important, and roboticassisted surgery is the next step in that.”- DR. KELLEY
THIEMAN
Scientists from across Texas A&M—and beyond—are working to mitigate the consequences of disasters while developing practical solutions to real-life problems as part of the Texas A&M Superfund Research Center’s second multi-million-dollar funding cycle.
Story by MEGAN MYERS
When Hurricane Florence hit the North Carolina coast in the fall of 2018, more than 30 inches of rain fell in some areas of the state. The resulting flooding was dangerous enough,
but it unleashed a whole new threat when it caused dams to burst, letting water from storage ponds filled with coal ash enter nearby rivers.
Coal ash contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium, and arsenic, all of which can cause significant short-term and long-term effects on exposed populations.
In situations like this, being able to detect the presence of those contaminants is an important first step in mitigating their effects on people, as well as the environment.
That’s where groups like the Texas A&M University Superfund Research Center come into play.
After Florence, a number of Superfund trainees spent several days conducting water, air, and soil sampling in North Carolina and then returned several times over a period of one year to conduct more sampling.
Closer to home, Superfund researchers have done similar work after Hurricane Harvey and the Intercontinental Terminals Company (ITC) Deer Park Fire in Houston.
These researchers come from multiple schools and colleges at Texas A&M, as well as other universities. Their projects span many disciplines—from toxicology and engineering to medicine and public health—but have the common goal of
“We’re trying to push the research, but we also want to be useful in the here and now. In most of academia, the metric is how many papers you publish, but here, because there’s a strong community engagement component, we understand how research can be translated into something that can actually make meaningful impacts for vulnerable people today.”
protecting people from hazardous chemicals released during and after natural and human-made disasters.
“We’re trying to fill a critical gap in understanding what types of hazardous chemicals get released after disasters,” said Dr. Weihsueh Chiu, a professor at the Texas A&M School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) and deputy director of the Superfund Center. “We’re also working to develop new tools and approaches that will hopefully eventually be adopted as part of a disaster response toolkit.”
As the center begins its second five-year, nearly $10-million funding period, its leaders are setting big goals in their work to develop practical tools to keep Texas’ and the United States’ communities safe.
“By establishing our research capacity and group of investigators, we’re putting Texas A&M on the map for national efforts in disaster research response,” said Dr. Ivan Rusyn, Superfund Center director and a University Professor of toxicology.
“Our big goal as a center for this next five-year cycle is to convert the data we collected into actionable knowledge that our communities and county, state, and federal agencies can use; a lot of our plans for the near future are focused on what the next challenge is and how we can take things from research to practice,” he said.
REACHING PEOPLE, CHANGING LIVES
The Superfund Center, housed within the VMBS, is one of 25 university-based, multi-project centers across the U.S. funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ Superfund Research Program, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
While many of these centers focus on a specific class of chemicals, the Texas A&M center is unique in that it chooses to take a broader approach to disaster response.
“We’re one of the few, or maybe the only one, that’s covering a wide range of different chemicals and focusing on the effects of the mixture as a whole, rather than just determining its individual components,” Chiu said.
Following its launch in 2017, the Texas A&M Superfund Center used five major projects and several support cores
- DR. WEIHSUEH CHIUto study various aspects of chemical contamination after disaster events.
Chiu said the center proved the feasibility and practicality of looking at the overall effects and toxicity of a sample in its first five years, which has the potential to help communities and researchers alike make quick decisions and to assist in prioritizing clean up after a disastrous event.
Communicating with the public also is a key part of disaster response; for the Superfund researchers, this includes helping people know about potential dangers from chemicals released during disasters.
While the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many research institutions, the Superfund Center used the pandemic as an opportunity to strengthen its Community Engagement Core, one of six support cores within the center.
To help build stronger relationships with the communities it serves, the center hosted outreach events on emergency preparedness; developed new reporting tools for environmental and health data; trained staff and students in outbreak response; and played a role in increasing local COVID-19 vaccination rates.
“We leveraged our partnerships to hold several vaccination drives and community meetings explaining vaccinations,” Rusyn said. “We wanted to show that we’re partners to the community in more than just coming and taking samples or administering questionnaires.”
DEVELOPING NEW METHODS & TOOLS
During its next five-year cycle, the center will take a broader approach to disaster response and focus on providing fast, tangible results to first responders and community members.
“We are expanding our ability to detect different types of substances,” Chiu said. “We’re also taking advantage of some newly available technologies to address questions that are very difficult to answer in a rapid context. After a disaster, you can’t wait five or 10 years for results; we want to provide tools that are timelier than that.”
To accomplish these goals, the Superfund Center has launched three new projects, in addition to two that have carried over from the first funding cycle.
The first of these projects uses non-targeted analysis to provide rapid answers to what dangerous chemicals could be present in environmental samples.
“There are 80,000 different chemicals being used in commerce and the scientific community has only tested maybe 1,000 of them. We have this gigantic range of chemicals and there’s no way we can do it the old-fashioned way because it would take us centuries to finish testing them all,” Chiu said. “In a disaster, we want to have a rapid answer, even if it’s not definitive. You don’t want to necessarily wait for the definitive answer in that situation.”
In the center’s first cycle, the environmental samples typically consisted of sediment gathered from Galveston Bay. In the center’s second cycle, a new project will help expand the types of samples collected by using the Mobile Responding to Air Pollution in Disasters (mRAPiD) air quality testing van to monitor air pollution in real time.
This project will also study the relationship between air pollutants released by disasters and the risk of childhood asthma and other respiratory conditions.
“The van enables us to respond to a non-disaster scenario in which a community is concerned about air pollution but
also have the capability to go do some real-time sampling after a disaster,” Chiu said.
Finally, the third new project will study a unique subset of the population impacted by disasters—pregnant women and their unborn children—in partnership with the Texas A&M College of Engineering. Using tissue chips to replicate cells in the placenta, researchers can get more rapid results by studying the effects of chemicals without having to wait until a disaster occurs.
In addition to these projects, the center is launching two new cores to support disaster response and to enhance mapping capabilities that help determine how specific disasters will impact regions and industrial facilities.
TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RESEARCHERS
One of the unique aspects of the Superfund Center is its ability to provide trainees with practical, real-world experience, in addition to lab work.
“One of the big advantages of the Superfund program is that instead of requiring our students to work solely in a lab setting, they have some impact on communities,” Chiu said. “They’re actually going out and taking real samples from real people’s yards, talking with real people who are living in places that are polluted or were affected by disasters, and seeing that connection between their research and the ultimate goal of improving people’s lives.”
Superfund trainees have gone on to diverse careers in multiple fields, working at government institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, other
universities across the country, and private companies that conduct post-disaster sampling.
“The center’s collaborative opportunities and interdisciplinary science create valuable opportunities for students,” Rusyn said. “We’ve really been able to leverage our partnerships to help them get their degrees, get publications, and, most importantly, get jobs.
“The center is a science-to-practice type of project, while 90% of NIH-funded projects are just fundamental research. That’s what allows us to draw a lot of students, because they are more interested in the type of work where they can actually see the value and application,” he said. “We are very proud that there’s not only a large number of trainees but also that we have a very diverse group of individuals—diverse in terms of their affiliation, race, ethnicity, income level, and other metrics.”
PROVIDING TANGIBLE RESULTS
Across all of the center’s projects and support cores, one thing remains consistent—researchers are developing practical solutions to real-life problems; their projects directly and immediately benefit people.
“We’re trying to push the research, but we also want to be useful in the here and now,” Chiu said. “In most of academia, the metric is how many papers you publish, but here, because there’s a strong community engagement component, we understand how research can be translated into something that can actually make meaningful impacts for vulnerable people today.” ■
UTI MODELS
HEART HEALTH
LARGE ANIMAL MODELS
CHAGAS
Faculty from the School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences have partnered with faculty from UT Southwestern to advance animal and human health in research funded by Clinical and Translational Science Award grants.
Story by DORIAN MARTIN & Sidebar by RACHEL KNIGHTWith the goal of supporting One Health, Texas A&M University’s School of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) has joined forces with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center to foster translational research as part of a prestigious program funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The two institutions are working together on UT Southwestern’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), a prestigious five-year grant given to medical schools by the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). The program has made approximately 60 awards to some of the top-ranking medical schools across the United States. UT Southwestern was selected to participate in Spring 2021.
Participating in this respected grant program is an honor the VMBS is incredibly proud of, according to VMBS associate dean for Research & Graduate Studies Mike Criscitiello.
“The CTSA is consistent with our goals of increasing impactful translational research, better leveraging our patient populations and their spontaneous disease for clinical trials, as well as the growth of our research portfolio through strategic partners in the region,” Criscitiello said.
“As one of the world’s foremost research institutions, UT Southwestern has fostered bold, multidisciplinary research that we are excited to pair with our expertise in veterinary medicine,” he said.
UT Southwestern leaders also are excited about this collaboration, which is a natural extension of the joint work between both institutions’ faculties.
“Texas A&M is a natural partner for the UT Southwestern CTSA program based on many ongoing scientific collaborations between investigators at both institutions,” said Dr. Robert Toto, UT Southwestern Medical Center’s principal investigator and CTSA program director. “The selection of Texas A&M to participate in the UT Southwestern CTSA enriches the hub by bringing scientific expertise not only in basic mechanisms of disease processes common to animals and humans but also for clinical trial design that can translate from animals to humans.”
EXPANDING COLLABORATION
The NIH initially created the CTSA program to specifically focus on supporting medical school research. However, the similarities between diseases in human beings and animals provided a natural extension for veterinary school participants in this program.
“We have very unique resources that can contribute to human health. We see pets that have diseases that are similar to people,” said Dr. Jon Levine, professor, Helen McWhorter Chair, and head of VMBS’ Small Animal Clinical Sciences Department. “The belief was that this would be a
Story by ASHLEY VARGO
