Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
ISSUE 3 │ SUMMER 2019 │FEARLESS IDEAS
NEW GRADUATES In 2019 three students, Irina Etobayeva, Helen Michael, and Liping Yang graduated and received their Ph.D. degree.
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS Dr. Utpal Pal was recognized and elected into the American Academy of Microbiology, one of the highest honors awarded to researchers in this field by recognizing excellence, originality, and leadership. As an eminent leader, Dr. Pal is relied upon for his authoritative advice and resourceful insight on critical issues in the field of microbiology. Shaoli Lin, in Dr. Yanjin Zhang’s Lab, was chosen as AGNR’s 2019 Alumni Network recipient for the Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Read more about Shaoli’s accomplishment on page 6. Dr. Utpal Pal was elected as an Academic Editor for the Insect Molecular Biology journal.
Dr. Sean Riley's pre-proposal has been conferred as the single nomination spot which UMD is allowed for the Searle Scholars Program FY 2020. The program provides grants to selected universities and research centers to support the independent research of exceptional young faculty in the biomedical sciences and chemistry. Dr. Utpal Pal has received a Certificate of Achievement from the Provost and Vice President of Research. The Maryland Research Excellence Celebration was held on Feb 28th, 2019, where one faculty member from each college received special recognition for their exemplary contributions to research excellence at the University of Maryland. He was selected as the exemplary researcher to represent the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
PROMOTIONS, APPOINTMENTS, & RETIREMENTS Ms. Halema Baxter joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as the new Executive Coordinator. Dr. Sean Riley joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as Assistant Professor. Dr. Yunsheng Wang retired from the Department of Veterinary Medicine after over 10 years of service.
Dean Craig Beyrouty (left) and Dr. Xiaoping Zhu (right) attended the 2019 DVM commencement at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA where Interim Dean Greg Daniel (front) presented during the ceremony.
ANNUAL VET MED FACULTY AND STAFF RETREAT On July 10, 2019 the Department of Veterinary Medicine hosted its annual Faculty and Staff Retreat in Beltsville, MD. The day was spent collaborating and reviewing the current state of the department and developing plans for a prosperous and successful future. Following an informative and enlightening day of presentations and discussions, the group rounded off the retreat with a tour of the USDA Animal Genomics and Improvements Lab.
SPECIAL SEMINAR CELEBRATING DR. MICHAEL RADEBAUGH On June 13, 2019 the Department of Vet Med celebrated Dr. Michael Radebaugh's retirement in a reception party. Dr. Radebaugh was a state veterinarian in the Department of Agriculture, Maryland. Dr. Radebaugh presented a seminar entitled "Maryland's Responses to Contagious and Infectious Disease" to students and invited guests. Dr. Michael Radebaugh's wish lists point a direction for developing the department and college. His remarkable contributions and support have made a great impact on the success of many initiatives for the department and college. We sincerely thank his many years of exceptional service and efforts to the department and college as an Alumni and State Veterinarian.
NEW GRANTS RECEIVED Dr. Yanjin Zhang, in collaboration with colleagues on the Blacksburg Campus, received the Pattern Recognition Receptor Driven Suppression of Host-Antiviral Immune Signaling in Hepatitis E Virus Infection grant through the collaborative seed grant from VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine of $20,000. Dr. Yanjin Zhang received the Maryland Agricultural Extension Service competitive grant (MD-VTMD) of $30,000. This grant focuses on the identification of the genetic source of interferon induction by a novel strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus.
Dr. Daniel Nelson and Dr. Kasey Moyes in the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences received a USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) grant which focuses on using the PlyC enzyme to treat bovine mastitis in lactating dairy cows. Dr. Utpal Pal is the Principal Investigator on a Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp funded Tick Immunity project of $102,956. Dr. Utpal Pal received an award from the Department of Defense Tick-Borne Diseases Research Program as the Sub-Contract Principal Investigator on the “Human 3D Microvessels for Analysis of Tick-Borne Pathogen-Blood Vessel Interactions�, totaling $728, 132 in funding for this project. Post-doc, Chrysoula Kitsou, is receiving funding from the Global Lyme Alliance in support of the vector-assisted detection of Lyme disease pathogens project under the mentorship and supervision of Dr. Utpal Pal.
UMD JOINS RACE TO PRODUCE UNIVERSAL FLU VACCINE Xiaoping Zhu, Principal Investigator, Associate Dean and Chair of the Department of Veterinary Medicine at UMD was awarded a new $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) entering the University of Maryland in the race to create a universal flu vaccine. The research will be conducted by the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, a joint effort of the UMD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Virginia Tech
Read more.
MEETINGS, SYMPOSIUMS, AND PRESENTATIONS Dr. Daniel Nelson presented “Mining Bacteriophage for Novel Antimicrobials and Immunotherapeutic” at National Center for Biodefense and Infectious Diseases, George Mason University, in Manassas, VA in October 2018. Dr. Daniel Nelson presented at the 2nd International Meeting on Antimicrobial Hydrolytic Enzymes in NY, New York, November 2018, covering “A Novel Design to Exploit the Synergy of the PlyCA Catalytic Domains.” Dr. Daniel Nelson presented “Development of the Bacteriophage Endolysin Ply1 for Treatment of Streptococcus Suis” at Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases in Chicago, IL in December 2018. L. Yang, J. He, R. Wang, Z. Ma, S. Lin, Y. Nan, and Y. Zhang presented the nonstructural protein 11 of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus downregulates STAT2 to inhibit interferon signaling at the North American PRRS Symposium, Chicago, IL. On December 1-2, 2018. Dr. Nathaniel Tablante was interviewed by Poultry Health Today on the "Chickens in Urban Areas: What Citizens and Legislators Need to Know Before Saying “Yes” or “No,” which was released in April 2019. Dr. Daniel Nelson presented “Harnessing Bacteriophage Endolysins for Antimicrobial Therapeutics” at the National Institutes of Health, Emerging Microbial Resistance Seminar Series in Bethesda, MD in February 2019
VMCVM SUMMER RESEARCH PROGRAM Dr. Nathaniel Tablante hosted 12 Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine students from the Blacksburg, VA campus for the 2019 Veterinary Student Summer Research District of Columbia Program visiting several federal agencies within the metro area as part of their summer program.
Dr. Xiaoping Zhu was invited to present his research on Viral Immune Evasion of FcRn Functions at the Howard University, College of Medicine in Washington, DC in 2018.
SECOND DELMARVA POULTRY UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIP SUMMIT
Ph.D. student Edris Shirvani, of Dr. Siba Samal’s Lab, discusses his research on NDV and IBV vaccines.
On March 13, 2019. The Second Delmarva Poultry University-Industry Partnership Summit was held at the Wicomico Civic Center in Salisbury, MD. Over 150 poultry industry, university researchers, students, federal and state government partners, representatives and other key stakeholders attended the conference that sought to improve communication and partnerships between the universities and the poultry industry to enhance poultry health and productivity. The participants were treated to a variety of research presentations and panel discussions, with a keynote address from Dr. Jack Shere, Deputy Administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and U.S. Chief Veterinary Officer. The University of Maryland College of Agriculture & Natural Resources hosted this event and played a key role in organizing it, with Dr. Nathaniel Tablante of Veterinary Medicine serving as master of ceremonies.
Dr. Nathaniel Tablante (left) moderates a panel discussion with poultry industry representatives. Na ALUMNI OUTSTANDING GRADUATE STUDENT AWARD RECIPIENT
Shaoli Lin, a graduate student in Dr. Zhang’s laboratory, won 2019 Outstanding Graduate Student for the Veterinary Medicine Department as a finalist for AGNR Alumni Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Shaoli joined the VMSC graduate program in Fall 2015. She has been conducting research on virus and virus-cell interactions to elucidate the mechanism of virus infection and pathogenesis. She is dedicated to her thesis research by reading relevant papers, designing experiments to examine the mechanism, and discussing the results with her major advisor. She has made considerable progress in her research. So far, she has two firstauthored papers published and co-authored several others since she joined the program. One manuscript is under review for publication. She presented her research on hepatitis E virus in the conference of America Society for Virology last year. She also has seven papers published from her previous work in her graduate studies towards her M.S. degree.
Graduate Student, Shaoli Lin (left), receives the 2019 Outstanding Graduate Student Award pictured with Dean Beyrouty (right).
STUDENTS AND ALUMNI NEWS
Undergraduate students Megan Levy and Jenny Miao from
Alumni, Dr. Senthil Palniyandi (Ph.D., 2012), was
the Department of Animal and Avian Sciences Pre-Vet
recruited as a Scientist by Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories
Program at UMD joined the Gudelsky Veterinary Center for
at Malvern, PA. Bioassay He will perform method
Research as interns.
development, optimization, validation and transfer of Bioassays.
Dr. Yanjin Zhang hosted several high school students, Justin Williams and Abigail (Toni) Aderinwale of Eleanor
Alumni, Dr. Anandan Paldura (Ph.D., 2012), was recruited
Roosevelt High School and Zoe Shi of Atholton High School,
as a scientist by the Crispr Therapeutics, Boston, MA. He
who are interested in becoming DMV students as interns in
will develop a novel immunotherapeutic strategy.
his lab. 2018 Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Liping Yang, was recruited by the Dr. Zhang also hosted Anyue (Ray) Ruan and Adwitiya
National Institute of Health as a Postdoctoral Scientist.
Dhungana both students from the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of
2018 Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Helen Michael, was recruited by
Maryland.
the National Institute of Health as a Staff Scientist.
Additionally, Dr. Zhang welcomed graduate students
2018 Ph.D. graduate, Dr. Irina Etobayeua, was recruited
Zhangchi Xu and Peixi Chang to the Department of
by the Maryland Naval Medical Research Center where
Veterinary Medicine.
she serves as the Deputy Head in the Malaria Department.
LIPID DROPLETS SUPPORT MEMBRANE SYNTHESIS IN POLIOVIRUSINFECTED CELLS Dr. Ekaterina Viktorova, Assistant Research Professor, Dr. Georgie Belov, Associate Professor, and their colleagues investigated the mechanism underlying the massive membrane remodeling in poliovirusinfected cells resulting in reorganization of the cellular lipid synthesizing machinery upon infection and identify lipid droplets as the organelles supporting the structural development of the replication membranes. This study, in Dr. Belov's laboratory, establishes an important role of lipid droplets in picornavirus infection and provides a novel paradigm for controlling viral infections, not only by targeting the viral replication per se but also by making it more visible to the host defense mechanisms. Read More.
NEW CYTOMEGALOVIRUS IMMUNE EVASION TACTICS Dr. Xiaoyang Liu, a former VMSC graduate student (Ph.D., 2018) in the Department of Veterinary Medicine, and his collaborators have discovered a new cytomegalovirus immune evasion tactics. Dr. Liu's research will have a high impact on developing new strategies in treating autoimmune diseases, vaccine development, preventing birth defects, and much more. Read More.
AGRICULTURAL INNOVATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION POLICY TRAINING On May 21, 2019, Dr. Xiaoping Zhu met the 10member delegation from the Council of Agriculture, Taiwan for the training on "Agricultural Innovation and Commercialization Policy". Dr. Zhu gave presentations to the delegation members and share his experiences how the basic research in the biomedicine is translated into the Commercialization.
VETMED AND THE DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL AND AVIAN SCIENCES FACULTY MEET WITH THE CHINESE ACADEMY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES On September 24th, 2018 the University of Maryland’s Department of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Animal & Avian Sciences met with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) Delegation. The full-day meeting provided the faculty with the opportunity to present their research programs and allowed for collaboration among the two research institutions.
PATENTS AND DISCLOSURES Zhang Y. The Capsid Protein of Hepatitis E Virus Inhibits Interferon Induction via Its N-terminal arginine-rich Motif. University of Maryland invention disclosure reference number LS-2018-167. Zhang Y. 293-IRF3 stable cells. University of Maryland invention disclosure reference number LS-2019-002. Nelson, D. Bacteriophage Lysins for Bacillus Species. University of Maryland invention disclosure reference number 62/673,005.
PUBLICATIONS Liangliang Li, Yuchen Nan, Guoqian Gu, Weiyao Sun, Biyun Xue, Gaopeng Hou, Yanjin Zhang, Lu Zhang, Yunpeng Shi, Chunyan Wu, Qin Zhao, Shuqi Xiao, Gaiping Zhang, and En-Min Zhou. Recombinant MYH9 protein C-terminal domain blocks porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus internalization by direct interaction with viral glycoprotein 5. Antiviral Research. 156 (2018) 10–20. Shaoli Lin, Shixing Yang, Jia He, Johnathan D. Guest3, Zexu Ma, Liping Yang, Brian G. Pierce, Qiyi Tang, and Yan-Jin Zhang: Zika Virus NS5 Protein Antagonizes Type I Interferon Production via Blocking TBK1 Activation. Virology 2019, 527,180-187. Shang, X. & Nelson, D.C. (2019) Contributions of Net Charge on the PlyC Endolysin CHAP Domain. Antibiotics 8(2):70. (doi: 10.3390/antibiotics8020070) Greenfield J, Shang X, Luo H, Zhou Y, Heselpoth R.D., Nelson, D.C.*, & Herzberg, O.* (2019) Structure and Tailspike Glycosidase Machinery of ORF212 from E. coli O157:H7 Phage CBA120 (TSP3). Sci Rep. 9(1):7349. (doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-43748-9) Yang, H., Gong, Y., Zhang, H., Etobayeva, I., Miernikiewicz, P., Luo, D., Zhang, X., Dabrowska, K., Nelson, D.C.*, He, J.*, & Wei, H.P.* (2019) ClyJ, a Novel Pneumococcal Chimeric Lysin with a Unique CHAP Catalytic Domain. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 63(4): e02043-18. (doi: 10.1128/AAC.02043-18) Schuch, R., Pelzek, A.J., Nelson, D.C., & Fischetti, V.A. (2019) The PlyB Endolysin of Bacteriophage vB_BanS_Bcp1 Exhibits BroadSpectrum Bactericidal Activity against Bacillus cereus sensu lato Isolates. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 85(9): e00003-19. (doi: 10.1128/AEM.00003-19) Harhala, M., Nelson, D.C., Mierikiewicz, P., Heselpoth, R.D., Brzezicka, B., Majewska, J., Linden, S.B., Shang, X., Szymczak, A., Lecion, D., Marek-Bukowiec, K., Klak, M., Wojtyna, K., Konieczny, A., & Dabrowska, K. (2018) Safety Studies of Streptococcal Endolysins Cpl-1 and PAL. Viruses 10(11): E638. (doi: 10.3390/v10110638) Etobayeva, I., Linden, S.B., Alem, F., Harb, L., Rizkalla, L., Mosier, P.D., Johnson, A.A., Temple, L, Hakami, R.M., & Nelson, D.C. (2018) Discovery and Biochemical Characterization of PlyP56, PlyN74, and PlyTB40 - Bacillus Specific Endolysins. Viruses. 10(5): E276. (doi: 10.3390/v10050276) Liu X, Palaniyandi S, Zhu I, Tang J, Li W, Wu X, Park-Ochsner S, Pauza CD, Cohen JI, Zhu X. Human cytomegalovirus evades antibody-mediated immunity through endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation of the FcRn receptor. Nature Communications, In Press, 2019. 10.1038/s41467-019-10865-y Goswami R, Arya R, Biswas D, Zhu X, Rahaman SO. Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid 4 Is Required for Foreign Body Response and Giant Cell Formation. Am J Pathol. 2019 May 21. pii: S0002-9440(19)30101-4. doi: 0.1016/j.ajpath.2019.04.016.
ASSOCIATE DEAN & DEPARTMENT CHAIR Xiaoping Zhu FACULTY
STAFF
George Belov
Yonas Araya
Weizhong Li
Halema Baxter
Daniel Nelson
Girmay Gebreluul
Utpal Pal
Judy Knight
Sean Riley
Johanna Lavigne
Siba Samal
Ricardo Morales
Meiqing Shi
Tam Ong
Nathaniel Tablante
Takele Yazew
Ekaterina Viktorova Xiuli Yang Yanjin Zhang
8075 Greenmead Drive College Park, MD 20742 vetmed.umd.edu Editor: Halema D. Baxter