Veterinary Medicine Newsletter – Fall 2021

Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

ISSUE 6 │ Fall 2021 │FEARLESS IDEAS

Dear friends and colleagues, 2021 has been an unexpected continuation of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. On a positive note, thanks to the vaccinations we have been able to resume many in-person activities. It has been a true pleasure seeing our community members in person rather than over a virtual meetings. Although the year has still posed many obstacles due to the pandemic and its restrictions I am ecstatic about the progress and hard work of our faculty, staff, postdoctorals, and students.

We have continued to move forward with successful adaptations to this new way of life in our department and managed to achieve numerous goals during these unique times. I would like to briefly highlight some of these achievements with you. Members of our department including faculty, staff, postdoctorals, and students, collectively received 13 awards of which each was accompanied by a monetary reward. 13 new members joined the department. We presented both virtually and in person at several events. We received two patents and filed two more. We were awarded six new grants and had 35 new publications! It was a majorly successful year especially given the uncontrollable circumstances.

I want to thank the strong supports of Dean Craig Beyrouty, Dean Daniel Givens, and all of the members of our college and department for their dedication and hard work. I wish you and your family a joyful holiday season and a prosperous new year.

Sincerely,

Xiaoping Zhu, DVM, Ph.D., Professor Associate Dean and Department Chair

Welcome

Bibek Bhattachan, Yizhu Lu, and Kruthi Vavilikolanu joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as a Graduate Student in Dr. Pal’s Lab. Dhiraj Chundrui and Alyssa Harris joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as a Graduate Student in Dr. Ghanem’s Lab. Yiquan Wu joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as a Graduate Student in Dr. Shi’s Lab. Grace Patsche joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as a Graduate Student in Dr. Zhu’s Lab. Dr. Chinta M. Lamichhane joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as an Adjunct Professor Dr. Joan Lunney joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as an Adjunct Professor Dr. Shankar Mondal joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as an Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor Dr. Shaik O. Rahaman joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as an Affiliated Associate Professor Dr. Maria Salvato joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as an Adjunct Professor Dr. Larry Shelton joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as an Affiliated Clinical Professor

Congratulations

Dr. Shaoli Lin graduated from our Ph.D. program.

Dr. Daniel Nelson was promoted from Associate to Full Professor Dr. Berin Parambethu Varghese graduated from our Ph.D. program.

Farewell

Dr. Siba Samal, Professor, and former Chair and Associate Dean retired from the department after 34 years of service.

Dr. Takele Yazew, Research Specialist, has departed after 3.5 years of service.

We wish them well in their new endeavors and thank them for their long-time contributions to our department and university.

Awards & Recognitions Berin Parambethu Varshese, graduate student in Dr. Zhu's lab, is awarded a 2021 Roberta Ma Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 Arun Mekhemadhom Rajendrakumar, graduate student in Dr. Zhu's lab, is awarded a 2021 Roberta Ma Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 Ms. Mahsa Moghimi received the Avrum Gudelsky Veterinary Graduate Student Award for Exemplary Research in Veterinary Medicine which recognizes an outstanding graduate student who has demonstrated excellent research methods, publications, and service skills.

Dr. Meiqing Shi has been awarded the 2021 Cornerstone Award from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. This award recognizes faculty who perform outstanding research in One-Health; human, animal, and environmental health.

Dr. Gongguan Liu received the Excellence in Postdoctoral Research Award which recognizes exemplary contributions as a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Veterinary Medicine.

Emily Hardgrove, DVM/MPH student of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, has been awarded the Mitchell Essey Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $1,500.

Ms. Halema Baxter received the 2021 Outstanding Coordinator of Graduate Studies Award which recognizes exceptional contributions made to graduate education, a graduate program, and/or the graduate student experience in that program.

Mr. Mohamed Elbehairy received the David Bruce Snyder Award for Avian Molecular Epidemiology which recognizes a graduate student at the Maryland Campus of the VMCVM who has conducted exemplary research in avian disease. This award was presented by Nancy Snyder in honor of her late husband David B. Snyder.

Dr. Utpal Pal and Dr. Xiaoping Zhu have been awarded the 2021 Dean’s Grantsmanship Award from the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. This award commends faculty who successfully secured competitive extramural grants and contracts in access of $600,000 in the fiscal year 2021.

Mr. Yonas Araya received the Staff Excellence Award which recognizes a staff member in the Department of Veterinary Medicine who consistently makes outstanding contributions in support of faculty, staff, students, administrators and all those served by the department.

Dr. Yanjin Zhang and his Gemstone team, EVICT, earned the Panelists’ Award at the Do Good Showcase. The Do Good Showcase is an event where the Gemstone Honors College living and learning program partners with the Do Good center to have teams explain what their research is, their progress thus far, and how their project "does good". They specifically focus on how their projects can help improve equity for different communities.

Annual Retreat On July 26, 2021, the Department of Veterinary Medicine hosted its annual Faculty and Staff Retreat on campus. The day was spent collaborating and reviewing the current state of the department and developing plans for a prosperous future. Following an informative and enlightening day of presentations and discussions, the group rounded off the retreat with a team-building round of golf!

Presentations and Service Dr. Mostafa Ghanem, student Alyssa Harris, and Dr. Nathaniel Tablante attended the Northeastern Conference on Avian Diseases (NECAD)/Pennsylvania Sales and Service Conference; in State College, PA; on Sept. 13-14, 2021. Dr. Tablante gave a talk titled "Biosecurity-still your best defense against poultry disease outbreaks". Dr. Ghanem and Ms. Harris presented a paper titled “Development of a Multilocus Sequence Typing Assay for Avibacterium paragallinarum” at the NECAD Scientific Session. Dr. Ghanem also served on the program planning committee for this event.

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem and Dr. Nathaniel Tablante attended the Delmarva Chicken Association (DCA) National Meeting on Poultry Health, Processing, and Live Production; in Ocean City, MD; on Sept. 27-29, 2021. Dr. Tablante gave a talk titled "Biosecurity - still your best protection against poultry disease outbreaks" Dr. Ghanem also served on the program planning committee for this event.

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem and Dr. Nathaniel Tablante continue to participate in the weekly meetings of the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine (CPCVM).

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem has prepared a proposal to host four clerkship opportunities (UMD research clerkship, UMD lab animal clerkship, USDA-Veterinary Services clerkship, and USDA animal care clerkship) at the Maryland campus of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine. All clerkships have been reviewed and are awaiting final approval.

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem presented at the annual UMD Department of Animal Science Multistate Cooperative Research Project with the project “NE1834: Genetic Basis for Resistance and Immunity to Avian Diseases”.

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem and Dr. Michele Williams presented "Evaluation of Candidate Reference Genes in Clostridium perfringens for Gene Expression Normalization" and " Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) Multilocus Sequence Typing (MLST) Public Databases” at the annual American Association of Avian Pathologist Meeting.

Dr. Xiaoping Zhu presented “A Structure-Based Vaccine for Bovine Respirato ry Syncytial Virus using NDV Vector” at the 2021 Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD).

Dr. Xiaoping Zhu presented “FcRn-Targeted Mucosal Vaccination against Respiratory Infections” for the University of Maryland and National Institutes of Health.

Patents Dr. Daniel Nelson received a United States Patent Number 10,975,365 titled “Di-enzymatic chimeric endolysin,” issued April 13, 2021.

Ph.D. student, Michael Ronzetti of Dr. Utpal Pal’s lab received United States Patent Number E-200-2020-0PCT-02 titled "real-time cellular thermal shift assay (rt-cetsa) for research and drug discovery," issued August 9, 2021 Dr. Weizhong Li, Dr. Tao Wang, and Dr. Xiaoping Zhu filed a non-provisional patent for Mucosal Vaccination Against 2019-nCoV Infection.

Mr. Arunraj Mekhemadhom Rajendrakumar, Dr. Wenbin Tuo, and Dr. Xiaoping Zhu filed and disclosed a patent for a helminth protein and its derivatives as therapeutics treating inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and vaccines against helminth parasites.

Grants Dr. Sean Riley received an R21 grant ($424,875.00) over two years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for "Redefining the Interaction between Extracellular Immune Mechanisms and Intracellular Rickettsia Infections". This project will assess the molecular and cellular mechanisms of the mammalian complement system that contribute to the successful immune response to Rickettsia infection so that we better define the effective immune response to these pathogens and establish the foundation for future development of vaccines and therapeutics.

Dr. Sean Riley received a MAES competitive grant for his project titled “Host-targeted Therapeutics for Rickettsia Infections”.

Dr. Meiqing Shi received a MAES competitive grant for his project titled “Mechanisms of clearance of Cryptococcus neoformans in the brain” Dr. Xiaoping Zhu received an NIH R21 grant for the “Development and Evaluation of Novel Aptamer-based Therapeutics Targeting SARS-CoV-2 in a Physiologically-Relevant Model of Human Airway Epithelium” in collaboration with Drs. Jeffrey DeStefano and Margaret Scull.

Dr. Yanjin Zhang received a MAES competitive grant for his project titled “Mutagenesis of a novel porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus strain for a better vaccine”.

Dr. Utpal Pal successfully renewed his R01 grant, Borrlia gene products critical for natural infection cycle, from the NIH. The project focuses on understanding how a select set of B. burgdorferi antigens that support microbial virulence contributes to pathogen persistence in the tick-rodent infection cycle and pathogenesis in mammalian hosts. Knowledge of these processes is critical for the development of novel preventative and/or therapeutic strategies to combat the infection.

Publications Kryshtafovych A, Moult J, Albrecht R, Chang GA, Chao K, Fraser A, Greenfield J, Hartmann MD, Herzberg O, Josts I, Leiman PG, Linden SB, Lupas AN, Nelson DC, Rees SD, Shang X, Sokolova ML, Tidow H; AlphaFold2 team. Computational models in the service of X-ray and cryo-electron microscopy structure determination.

Proteins. 2021 Aug 27. doi: 10.1002/prot.26223.

King H, Ajay Castro S, Pohane AA, Scholte CM, Fischetti VA, Korotkova N, Nelson DC, Dorfmueller HC. Molecular basis for recognition of the Group A Carbohydrate backbone by the PlyC streptococcal bacteriophage endolysin. Biochem J. 2021 478(12):2385-2397. doi: 10.1042/BCJ20210158.

Broendum SS, Williams DE, Hayes BK, Kraus F, Fodor J, Clifton BE, Geert Volbeda A, Codee JDC, Riley BT, Drinkwater N, Farrow KA, Tsyganov K, Heselpoth RD, Nelson DC, Jackson CJ, Buckle AM, McGowan S. High avidity drives the interaction between the streptococcal C1 phage endolysin, PlyC, with the cell surface carbohydrates of Group A Streptococcus. Mol Microbiol. 2021 116(2):397-415. doi: 10.1111/mmi.14719.

Linden SB, Alreja AB, Nelson DC. Application of bacteriophage-derived endolysins to combat streptococcal disease: current state and perspectives. Curr Opin Biotechnol. 2021 68:213-220. doi: 10.1016/j.copbio.2021.01.012.

Vander Elst N, Linden SB, Lavigne R, Meyer E, Briers Y, Nelson DC. Characterization of the bacteriophagederived endolysins PlySs2 and PlySs9 with in vitro lytic activity against bovine mastitis Streptococcus uberis.

Antibiotics (Basel). 2020 9(9):621. doi: 10.3390/antibiotics9090621.

Wang, Y, Khanal, D, Chang, RYK, Shang, X, Yang, H, Britton, WJ, Nelson, DC, & Chan, HK. Can bacteriophage endolysins be nebulized for inhalation delivery against Streptococcus pneumoniae? Int. J. Pharm.

591:119982, 2020. (doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2020.119982) Greenfield J, Shang X, Luo H, Zhou Y, Linden SB, Heselpoth RD, Leiman PG, Nelson DC, Herzberg O. Structure and function of bacteriophage CBA120 ORF211 (TSP2), the determinant of phage specificity towards E. coli O157:H7. Sci Rep. 2020 10(1):15402. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-72373-0.

Interaction of Poliovirus Capsid Proteins with the Cellular Autophagy Pathway. Zimina A, Viktorova EG, Moghimi S, Nchoutmboube J, Belov GA. Viruses. 2021 Aug 11;13(8):1587. doi: 10.3390/v13081587.

Enterovirus Infection Induces Massive Recruitment of All Isoforms of Small Cellular Arf GTPases to the Replication Organelles. Moghimi S, Viktorova E, Zimina A, Szul T, Sztul E, Belov GA. J Virol. 2020 Dec 22;95(2):e01629-20. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01629-20. Print 2020 Dec 22.

Dynamic remodeling of the human host cell proteome and phosphoproteome upon enterovirus infection.

Giansanti P, Strating JRPM, Defourny KAY, Cesonyte I, Bottino AMS, Post H, Viktorova EG, Ho VQT, Langereis A, Belov GA, Nolte-'t Hoen ENM, Heck AJR, van Kuppeveld FJM. Nat Commun. 2020 Aug 28;11(1):4332. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18168-3.

Kitsou C, Foor SD, Dutta S, Bista S and Pal U. Gut barriers impacting tick-microbe interactions and pathogen persistence. Mol Microbiol (In press), 2021.

Sajid A, Matias J, Arora G, Kurukawa C, DePonte K, Tang X, Lynn G, Wu M, Pal U, Strank NO, Pardi N, Narasimhan S, Weissman D and Fikrig E. mRNA vaccination induces tick resistance and prevents pathogen transmission. Sci Transl Med (In press), 2021.

Publications Narasimhan S, Swei A, Abouneameh S, Pal U, Pedra JHF, Fikrig E. Grappling with the tick microbiome. Trends Parasitol. 2021 Aug;37(8):722-733. doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.04.004. Epub 2021 May 4. PMID: 33962878.

Kitsou C, Fikrig E, Pal U. Tick host immunity: vector immunomodulation and acquired tick resistance. Trends Immunol. 2021 Jul;42(7):554-574. doi: 10.1016/j.it.2021.05.005. Epub 2021 May 30. PMID: 34074602.

[Feature Review & selected as cover image: https://www.cell.com/trends/immunology/issue?pii=S14714906(20)X0008-1] Oliva Chávez AS, Wang X, Marnin L, Archer NK, Hammond HL, Carroll EEM, Shaw DK, Tully BG, Buskirk AD, Ford SL, Butler LR, Shahi P, Morozova K, Clement CC, Lawres L, Neal AJO, Mamoun CB, Mason KL, Hobbs BE, Scoles GA, Barry EM, Sonenshine DE, Pal U, Valenzuela JG, Sztein MB, Pasetti MF, Levin ML, Kotsyfakis M, Jay SM, Huntley JF, Miller LS, Santambrogio L, Pedra JHF. Tick extracellular vesicles enable arthropod feeding and promote distinct outcomes of bacterial infection. Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 17;12(1):3696. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23900-8. PMID: 34140472.

Narasimhan S, Kurokawa C, DeBlasio M, Matias J, Sajid A, Pal U, Lynn G, Fikrig E. Acquired tick resistance: The trail is hot. Parasite Immunol. 2021 May; 43(5):e12808. doi: 10.1111/pim.12808. Epub 2020 Dec 15.

PMID: 33187012.

Koči J, Bista S, Chirania P, Yang X, Kitsou C, Rana VS, Yas OB, Sonenshine DE, Pal U. Antibodies against EGFlike domains in Ixodes scapularis BM86 orthologs impact tick feeding and survival of Borrelia burgdorferi.

Sci Rep. 2021 Mar 17;11(1):6095. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-85624-5. PMID: 33731754.

Klouwens MJ, Trentelman JJ, Ersoz JI, Nieves Marques Porto F, Sima R, Hajdusek O, Thakur M, Pal U, Hovius JW. Investigating BB0405 as a novel Borrelia afzelii vaccination candidate in Lyme borreliosis. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 26;11(1):4775. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-84130-y. PMID: 33637813.

Pal U, Kitsou C, Drecktrah D, Yaş ÖB, Fikrig E. Interactions between Ticks and Lyme Disease Spirochetes.

Curr Issues Mol Biol. 2021; 42:113-144. doi: 10.21775/cimb.042.113. Epub 2020 Dec 8. PMID: 33289683.

Yang X, Koči J, Smith AA, Zhuang X, Sharma K, Dutta S, Rana VS, Kitsou C, Yas OB, Mongodin EF, Pal U. A novel tick protein supports integrity of gut peritrophic matrix impacting existence of gut microbiome and Lyme disease pathogens. Cell Microbiol. 2021 Feb;23(2):e13275. doi: 10.1111/cmi.13275. Epub 2020 Oct 21. PMID: 33006213.

[Selected as cover and Editor's Choice Article: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cmi.13308] De S, Kitsou C, Sonenshine DE, Pedra JHF, Fikrig E, Kassis JA, Pal U. Epigenetic Regulation of Tick Biology and Vectorial Capacity. Trends Genet. 2021 Jan;37(1):8-11. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2020.09.012. Epub 2020 Oct 2. PMID: 33020021.

Cao Y, Rosen C, Arora G, Gupta A, Booth CJ, Murfin KE, Cerny J, Marin Lopez A, Chuang YM, Tang X, Pal U, Ring A, Narasimhan S, Fikrig E. An Ixodes scapularis Protein Disulfide Isomerase Contributes to Borrelia burgdorferi Colonization of the Vector. Infect Immun. 2020 Nov 16; 88(12):e00426-20. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00426- 20. PMID: 32928964.

Helmy, Y. A., Kathayat, D., Ghanem, M., Jung, K., Closs Jr, G., Deblais, L., & Rajashekara, G. (2020).

Identification and characterization of novel small molecule inhibitors to control Mycoplasma gallisepticum infection in chickens. Veterinary Microbiology, 247, 108799.

Publications Terefe, Y., Deblais, L., Ghanem, M., Helmy, Y. A., Mummed, B., Chen, D., ... & Yousuf Hassen, J. (2020). Cooccurrence of Campylobacter Species in Children From Eastern Ethiopia, and Their Association With Environmental Enteric Dysfunction, Diarrhea, and Host Microbiome. Frontiers in Public Health, 8, 99.

Ghanem, M., & El-Gazzar, M. (2019). Development of a Multilocus Sequence Typing Assay for Mycoplasma gallisepticum. Avian Diseases, 63(4), 693-702.

J. He, L. Yang, P. Chang, S. Yang, S. Lin, Q. Tang, X. Wang, and Y. Zhang. Zika virus NS2A protein induces the degradation of KPNA2 (karyopherin subunit alpha2) via chaperone-mediated autophagy. Autophagy.

2020 Dec;16(12):2238-2251. doi: 10.1080/15548627.2020.1823122. Epub 2020 Sep 28. PubMed PMID: 32924767. This paper was highlighted by the College of Agriculture and Natural Science, the University of Maryland in a news release titled “UMD Researcher Uncovers How Zika Virus Degrades an Essential Protein for Neurological Development, Getting it to “Eat Itself” visit AGNR News to read more.

S. Lin and Y. Zhang. Advances in Hepatitis E Virus Biology and Pathogenesis. Viruses 2021, 13(2), 267; https://doi.org/10.3390/v13020267. Review.

S. Lin, X. Wang, P. Chang, J. He, and Y. Zhang: Langat Virus Inhibits STAT3 Signaling via Blocking Its Phosphorylation. The Conference for Research Workers on Animal Diseases (CRWAD), December 5-8, 2020.

Virtual conference.

Chen Y, Li C, Sun D, Strickland AB, Liu G, Shi M. 2021 Quantitative analysis reveals internalisation of Cryptococcus neoformans by brain endothelial cells in vivo. Cell Microbiol. 23(6):e13330. doi: 10.1111/cmi.13330. Epub 2021 Apr 7. PMID: 33745221 Liu G, Abas O, Fu Y, Chen Y, Strickland AB, Sun D, Shi M. (2021) IL-27 Negatively Regulates Tip-DC Development during Infection. mBio. 12(1):e03385-20. doi: 10.1128/mBio.03385-20. PMID: 33593983 Free article.

Strickland AB, Shi M. (2021) Mechanisms of fungal dissemination. Cell Mol Life Sci. 78(7):3219-3238. doi: 10.1007/s00018-020-03736-z. Epub 2021 Jan 15. PMID: 33449153 Review.

Mustapha Dahmani , Jack H Cook , Jinyi C Zhu , Sean P Riley "Contribution of classical complement activation and IgM to the control of Rickettsia infection" Molecular Microbiology 2021 Nov 1 Elbehairy, M.A.; Khattar, S.K.; Samal, S.K. Recovery of Recombinant Avian Paramyxovirus Type-3 Strain Wisconsin by Reverse Genetics and Its Evaluation as a Vaccine Vector for Chickens. Viruses 2021, 13, 316. https://doi.org/10.3390/v13020316 Ochsner SP, Li W, Rajendrakumar AM, Palaniyandi S, Acharya G, Liu X, Wang G, Krammer F, Shi M, Tuo W, Pauza CD, Zhu X. FcRn-Targeted Mucosal Vaccination against Influenza Virus Infection. J Immunol.

2021 Sep 1;207(5):1310-1321. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.2100297.

Goswami R, Arya RK, Sharma S, Dutta B, Stamov DR, Zhu X, Rahaman SO. Mechanosensing by TRPV4 mediates stiffness-induced foreign body response and giant cell formation. Science Signal. 2021 Nov 2;14(707):eabd4077. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.abd4077.

New Partnership The University of Maryland College Park and the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, College Park Campus, entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, a public agency and instrumentality of the State of Maryland, to strengthen cooperative efforts among the parties for diagnostic and consultation services for livestock, poultry, and free-ranging and captive wildlife that may impact the livestock and poultry industries in Maryland.

New Equipment Dr. Mostafa Ghanem, Director of the Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory at the Veterinary Medicine Department, has acquired a whole-genome sequencer for his laboratory. The new Miseq system is the most popular sequencing platform of Illumina, Inc., provides diverse capabilities, and supports a broad range of applications. It offers a high-throughput sequencer that could perform up to 25 million reads per run.

The cost of this sequencer is about $100,000.

Dr. Ghanem said, “it can deliver wholegenome sequencing of bacteria and viruses and can identify multiple agents or novel pathogens like SARS-COV-2 in diverse sample types”. The use of next-generation sequencing became a core part of many biomedical research applications especially in fighting infectious diseases of humans and animals. In addition, it is a powerful tool to help the poultry and livestock industry in Maryland investigate chronic disease problems and understand their epidemiology and develop better control plans. Moreover, it bolsters our department’s cooperation with state and federal agencies to quickly identify zoonotic outbreaks associated with food, feed, animals, and people.”

The combination of Dr. Ghanem’s expertise in molecular epidemiology and the sequencer’s processing power opens a world of possibility for veterinarians, public health officials, and biomedical researchers in Maryland, and beyond who can now incorporate genomic findings into their work rapidly and inexpensively.

Dr. Ghanem is planning to allow the use of his sequencer to other researchers on campus and to support other researchers working on COVID-19 by providing sequencing services. In addition, through an agreement with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the sequencing services will be expanded to support the needs of the poultry industry for such critical and advanced services. This will enable veterinarians and diagnosticians to screen more samples and detect pathogens involved in diseases, in a much more robust approach than previous technologies, such as q/RT-PCR.

Extension On November 11, 2021, Dr. Mostafa Ghanem hosted the 2nd Poultry Health and Applied Research Group meeting. This multistakeholder collaborative interest group serves as a platform to improve communication and partnerships while enhancing the health and productivity of the poultry industry. Attendees include State diagnostic laboratory members from MD, VA, DE, and PA. The group meets quarterly for informal discussions of field and research updates regarding poultry health and diseases and research solutions for field issues.

This recent meeting focused on updates about ongoing cases and two important disease situations; the mysterious wild bird disease that affected the region late summer and Egg Layer Syndrome that affected the layers flocks in Pennsylvania.

Presentations Dr. Mostafa Ghanem presented a lecture on November 12, 2021, to poultry growers and poultry health technicians in Pennsylvania about the anatomy of the poultry respiratory and digestive systems and diagnostic sample collection as a part of a poultry health training workshop organized by Penn State University.

Publications

Click here to read more.

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem published a fact sheet about common crop issues in Backyard Chickens with Dr. John Moyle and Megan Purdue.

ASSOCIATE DEAN & DEPARTMENT CHAIR Xiaoping Zhu FACULTY

STAFF

George Belov

Yonas Araya

Mostafa Ghanem

Halema Baxter

Weizhong Li

Matthias Corrotte

Daniel Nelson

Aleksandar Dakic

Utpal Pal Sean Riley Meiqing Shi

Ely Guevara Girmay Gebreluul Judy Knight

Nathaniel Tablante

Johanna Lavigne

Ekaterina Viktorova

Ricardo Morales

Xiuli Yang

Tam Ong

Yanjin Zhang

8075 Greenmead Drive College Park, MD 20742 vetmed.umd.edu Editor: Halema D. Baxter