Veterinary Medicine Newsletter - Winter 2019

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

ISSUE 4 │ WINTER 2019 │FEARLESS IDEAS

Thank you and Happy Holiday

Dear friends and colleagues, It is hard to believe that 2019 is coming to an end. Over the year, we continued to move forward with the successful growth of our department. I would like to briefly highlight some of these achievements with you as we close out this year.

Our faculty, staff, and students are the foundation of our department. Every day, we are inspired by how truly talented they are and their steadfast commitment to our education, research, and extension. Their dedication, hard work, and passion make every day in our department brighter. In 2019, our faculty, postdoc, and students continuously received competitive research grants, published in prestigious journals, and received patents; they were recognized by a variety of awards and social media. Our Extension faculty actively connected with and provided services to our community. Our staff also initiated several projects to improve our environment and service quality. I am thankful for our dedicated people who enrich our department and community – thank you!

Commitment to excellence through professional development continues to elevate our faculty and staff.

Members of our staff completed the Thriving Workplace Sharpen My Saw program, attended the AGNR Administrative Professional Conference, and attended the AGNR Cornerstone Event with our faculty. Our faculty members provided services to our government and community, presented, attended, and participated in meetings all over the globe, including Egypt, Canada, California, Nevada, and Virginia, to name a few. I am proud of the growth and impact we made this year.

Our department also actively engages with our community. We are fortunate to have an incredible group of stakeholders and supporters whose passion and commitment help ensure our continued success. These partnerships through our community also allowed us to host 22 educators from 16 organizations to enrich our department’s seminar series.

I want to thank the strong supports of Dean Craig Beyrouty, Interim Dean Gregory Daniel, 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

NEW GRADUATES In Winter 2019, Edris Shirvani graduated and received his Ph.D. degree.

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS Halema Baxter graduated from the University of Maryland’s Thriving Workplace - Sharpen My Saw Program in September 2019.

Ph. D. graduate Edris Shirvani with Professor Dr. Siba Samal.

Niels Vander Elste, DVM, completed a one-year fellowship in the Nelson Lab.

Dr. Daniel Nelson was named Founding Associate Editor of a new journal, PHAGE: Therapy, Applications, and Research Dr. Yanjin Zhang was selected to receive a Faculty-Student Research Award which enriches the graduate student experience while assisting faculty in their academic pursuits for the 20202021 academic year.

PROMOTIONS & APPOINTMENTS Isaac Bronson joined Dr. Nelson’s Lab as a technician.

Dr. Matthias Corrotte joined the Department of Veterinary as the Core Facilities Director.

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem joined the Department of Veterinary Medicine as an Assistant Professor.

Dr. Dahmani Mustapha joined Dr. Riley’s Lab as a Postdoc.

Deer visits Vet Med

Dr. Cynthia Scholte joined Dr. Nelson’s Lab as a Postdoc.

Dr. Tao Wang joined Dr. Zhu’s Lab as a Postdoc.

WARM & FUZZY UMD Facilities Management building support staff, Felicita Manzanarez, showed her appreciation for our amazing faculty and staff by sending this thank you bouquet (pictured right) following her retirement.

Thank you, Felicity, for your years of service.

Ms. Jennifer Rhodes and Dr. Xiaoping Zhu are appointed as cochairs to lead the implementation team, “Improve Human, Animal, and Environmental Health,” one of the AGNR five strategic initiatives on campus.

JOIN OUR TEAM! The Department of Veterinary Medicine is looking for new faculty members to join our team. Click here to learn more and apply!

VET MED ANNUAL AWARDS CEREMONY On September 13, 2019, the Department of Veterinary Medicine hosted its annual Departmental Awards.

Congratulations to all of our nominees and recipients.

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.

Shaoli Lin 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.

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

Ricardo Morales 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.

On a rainy August 23rd, our Vet Med family had a fun time during our annual cookout!

CAST MEMBERSHIP SPOTLIGHT

Pal Lab

TICK IMMUNITY PROJECT Dr. Utpal Pal, and his lab members, along with Dr. Xiaoping Zhu, and Dean Beyrouty attended the first annual Symposium for the Tick Immunity project funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) on October 17, 2019, at the University of Maryland, College Park. This symposium focused on bringing members of the tick immunology community together and discussed progress, goals, future directions, and further community outreach for the Tick Immunity project. The Symposium hosted a series of scientific presentations from the P01 as well as eminent scientists from around the USA and Europe.

Dr. Nathaniel Tablante, former CAST president and longtime supporter, and Professor and Extension Poultry Health Specialist (Veterinarian) at the University of Maryland College Park, was featured as the CAST member spotlight in July 2019. Read more.

Dr. Nathaniel Tablante

(Left to Right) Dr. Xiaoping Zhu, Dr. Utpal Pal, Dean Craig Beyrouty

DR. MEIQING SHI’S LAB PUBLISHES TWO PAPERS 1. “Song, D et al., Fungal dissemination is limited by liver macrophage filtration of the blood” in Nature Communications, 2019.

2. “Liu, G et al., CRIg plays an essential role in intravascular clearance of blood borne parasites by interacting with complement” in the prestigious PNAS, 2019.

Both papers discover a novel mechanism in the liver through its resident Kupffer cells that help prevent invasive pathogen Shi Lab infections. Dr. Shi’s papers also help to explain a long-lasting mystery of why patients with liver dysfunctions have increased susceptibility to invasive infections. This research emphasizes the importance of liver-specific immune responses in fighting against infectious disease. The knowledge discovered in these papers will provide new potential therapeutic targets for the intervention of these important infectious diseases. This work is funded by NIH NIAID grants.

This research has been highlighted and trending on several social media platforms, including EurekAlert and Science Daily.

UMD PROFESSOR, SIBA SAMAL, PUBLISHES BOOK. AVIAN VIROLOGY: CURRENT RESEARCH AND FUTURE TRENDS Dr. Siba Samal has authored Avian Virology: Current Research and Future Trends, a comprehensive and timely update on all of the most important avian viruses. Read more.

To purchase a copy of invaluable reference source of timely information for students, virologists, immunologists, veterinarians, and scientists working on avian disease click here.

TRACKING TICK INFECTIONS IN 3-D On October 22, 2019, UMD reporter published this article which highlights Dr. Utpal Pal’s innovative research using 3dimentional bioengineered models of human blood vessels for a first-of-its kind examination of Lyme and Anaplasmosis diseases. This groundbreaking research provides an effective model to study the process of tick-borne pathogens.

MOU SIGNING On December 12, 2019 Fernando Sanchez, Jr., Chancellor, University of the Philippines Los Baños, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which aims to promote cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including collaboration in agriculture, food and nutrition security, and “one health” with the University of Maryland College Park.

Dr. Nathaniel Tablante and Dean Craig Beyrouty were in attendance of the signing. Read more. (seated L-R) Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr.; Dean Craig Beyrouty; (standing L-R) Josyline Javelosa; Renato Pedro Villa; Dr. Portia Lapitan; Dr. Rex Demafelis; Dr. Nathaniel Tablante; Dr. Adel Shirmohammadi.

MEETINGS, SYMPOSIUMS, AND PRESENTATIONS On August 13, 2019, Dr. Xiaoping Zhu hosted several members of the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association, Maryland Department of Agriculture, and local veterinarians as an ongoing collaboration among multiple institutions. (Pictured right) Dr. Mostafa Ghanem attended the 91st Annual Northeastern Conference on Avian Diseases focusing on important and current topics in the industry on September 11 & 12. (standing L-R) John Brooks, Michael Radebaugh, Dick Streett, Xiaoping Zhu,

Dr. Mostafa Ghanem attended the Association of Public Nancy Jo Chapman, Elizabeth Cottrell, Kimberly Menendez, and Richard Streett Health Laboratories 2019 GenomeTrakr Meeting, which brought together public health and university laboratories which contribute to the US Food and Drug Administration GenomeTrakr network on September 17 & 18.

Dr. George Belov and Dr. Xiaoping Zhu were invited to present their research in Virology at the University of Maryland’s Virology Retreat on November 16, 2019. This retreat was sponsored by the NIH T32 virology graduate program training grant. Dr. Belov presented his research entitled “GBF1, a Cellular Membrane Metabolism Protein Controlling Enterovirus RNA Replication”; Dr. Zhu presented his research entitled “Viral Immune Evasion of FcRn Functions.” Both research projects are funded by NIH R01 and R21 grants.

The Department of Veterinary Medicine Faculty, Staff, and Students attended and showcased our research program with poster presentations at the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Cornerstone Event on October 29, 2019. (Pictured left) Dr. Xiaoping Zhu, Dr. Nathaniel Tablante, and Dr. Mostafa Ghanem traveled to VMCVM Blacksburg, VA on November 4, 2019, and met with Dr. Gregory Daniel, Dr. Laura Hungerford, Dr. Valerie Ragan to introduce Dr. Ghanem to CPCVM faculty and discuss common goals and future areas for collaboration, particularly regarding CPCVM activities such as clerkship opportunities for public/corporate track students. The College Park delegation was glad to see the remarkable growth of the VMCVM Blacksburg campus in its infrastructure, education quality, and recognition. Faculty from both campuses had a very productive discussion on clarifying roles and activities, developing a framework for collaboration, and setting a timeline for implementation.

Halema Baxter and Ricardo Morales attended the College of Agriculture & Natural Resources 2019 Administrative Professional Conference on November 6, 2019.

Dr. Xiaoping Zhu was invited to present his research, “Towards a Universal Influenza Vaccine”, in the inventor pitch of the Bioscience Day, at the University of Maryland on November 12, 2019.

Shelby Foor taking part in Halloween festivities.

Each year, the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine hosts a research symposium to support the college’s mission and to showcase the research of its graduate and training programs. The M.S. and Ph.D. degree curriculums operate as a single, multidisciplinary biomedical and veterinary sciences graduate program. On November 6, 2019, Dr. Sean Riley, Gongguan Liu, Yanli Chen, Dr. Mostafa Ghanem, Urmil Dave, Mohamed Elbehairy, and Osama Abas attended from the Maryland Campus. (Pictured below) Dr. Daniel Nelson, Dr. Yanjin Zhang, and student Shaoli Lin attended the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases, North America PRRS Symposium, where Shaoli presented "The Capsid Protein of Hepatitis E Virus Inhibits Interferon Induction via Its N-terminal Arginine-rich Motif," and Dr. Nelson presented multiple posters in November 2019.

Dr. Xiaoping Zhu was invited to present his vaccine development research, titled “Mucosal Delivery of Universal Flu Vaccine Antigens in Animal Models,” in the World Vaccine & Immunotherapy Congress on December 2-5, 2019, in San Francisco.

Dr. Meiqing Shi was invited to present at Georgetown University Medical Center symposium of Immune Cells in Motion: Visualizing Cell Functions on the “Visualizing intravascular clearance of disseminating Cryptococcus neoformans,” in December 2019.

A team from the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Animal Health Program, visited the Veterinary Medicine Department on December 12th, 2019, to tour and visit the Animal Biosafety level 3 (ABSL3+). The visiting team included Dr. Michael J. Odian, Incoming State Veterinarian, Dr. Nancy Jo Chapman, Acting Maryland State Veterinarian, Dr. Kimberly Abramo, Quality Manager of the MDA Animal health program, Kimberly Lambert, Laboratory Scientist from Frederick Animal Health Laboratory and Dr. Shankar Mondal, Director of Salisbury Animal Health Laboratory. During the visit, the team met, Mr. Yonas Araya, Dr. Mostafa Ghanem, and Dr. Xiaoping Zhu.

NEW GRANTS RECEIVED Dr. Daniel Nelson, in collaboration with Integrated BioTherapeutics and George Mason University, received a $3,000,000 Phase II STTR award from the National Institute of Health to advance a novel approach to treating infections disease.

Dr. Utpal Pal is the Principal Investigator on a Merck Corp funded immunity project in the amount of $321,854.

Dr. Xiaoping Zhu, Mr. David Beylin, CEO of Brain Biosciences, Inc., and Dr. Maureen Kelleher at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center, VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine received a research grant, Pet Imaging of fore feet in stand horses, from the Maryland Industry Partnerships (MIPS).

PUBLICATIONS Belov GA, van Kuppeveld FJM. Lipid Droplets Grease Enterovirus Replication. Cell Host Microbe. 2019 Aug 14;26(2):149151.

Viktorova EG, Gabaglio S, Meissner JM, Lee E, Moghimi S, Sztul E, Belov GA. A Redundant Mechanism of Recruitment Underlies the Remarkable Plasticity of the Requirement of Poliovirus Replication for the Cellular ArfGEF GBF1. J Virol. 2019 Oct 15;93(21). pii: e00856-19.

Roy Chowdhury I, Yeddula SGR, Pierce BG, Samal SK, Kim SH. Newcastle disease virus vectors expressing consensus sequence of the H7 HA protein protect broiler chickens and turkeys against highly pathogenic H7N8 virus. Vaccine. 2019 Aug 14;37(35):4956-4962.

Yang H, Luo D, Etobayeva I, Li X, Gong Y, Wang S, Li Q, Xu P, Yin W, He J, Nelson DC, Wei H. Linker editing of pneumococcal lysin ClyJ conveys improved bactericidal activity. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2019 Nov 25. pii: AAC.01610-19.

Swift SM, Etobayeva IV, Reid KP, Waters JJ, Oakley BB, Donovan DM, Nelson DC. Characterization of LysBC17, a Lytic Endopeptidase from Bacillus cereus. Antibiotics (Basel). 2019 Sep 19;8(3). pii: E155.

Bista S, Singh P, Bernard Q, Yang X, Hart T, Lin YP, Kitsou C, Singh Rana V, Zhang F, Linhardt RJ, Zhnag K, Akins DR, Hritzo L, Kim Y, Grab DJ, Dumler JS, Pal U. A novel laminin-binding protein mediates microbial-endothelial cell interactions and facilitates dissemination of Lyme disease pathogens. J Infect Dis. 2019 Nov 23. pii: jiz626.

Gomes-Solecki M, Arnaboldi PM, Backenson PB, Benach JL, Cooper CL, Dattwyler RJ, Diuk-Wasser M, Fikrig E, Hovius JW, Laegreid W, Lundberg U, Marconi RT, Marques AR, Molloy P, Narasimhan S, Pal U, Pedra JHF, Plotkin S, Rock DL, Rosa P, Telford SR, Tsao J, Yang XF, Schutzer SE. Protective Immunity and New Vaccines for Lyme Disease. Clin Infect Dis. 2019 Oct 17. pii: ciz872.

Dimitrov KM, Abolnik C, Afonso CL, Albina E, Bahl J, Berg M, Briand FX, Brown IH, Choi KS, Chvala I, Diel DG, Durr PA, Ferreira HL, Fusaro A, Gil P, Goujgoulova GV, Grund C, Hicks JT, Joannis TM, Torchetti MK, Kolosov S, Lambrecht B, Lewis NS, Liu H, Liu H, McCullough S, Miller PJ, Monne I, Muller CP, Munir M, Reischak D, Sabra M, Samal SK, Servan de Almeida

R, Shittu I, Snoeck CJ, Suarez DL, Van Borm S, Wang Z, Wong FYK. Updated unified phylogenetic classification system and revised nomenclature for Newcastle disease virus. Infect Genet Evol. 2019 Oct; 74:103917.

Li L, Wang H, Zhang J, Sha Y, Wu F, Wen S, He L, Sheng L, You Q, Shi M, Liu L, Zhou H. SPHK1 deficiency protects mice from acetaminophen-induced ER stress and mitochondrial permeability transition. Cell Death Differ. 2019 Dec 11. doi: 10.1038/s41418-019-0471-x. [Epub ahead of print] Liu G, Fu Y, Yosri M, Chen Y, Sun P, Xu J, Zhang M, Sun D, Strickland AB, Mackey ZB, Shi M. CRIg plays an essential role in intravascular clearance of bloodborne parasites by interacting with complement. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Nov 26;116(48):24214-24220 Sun D, Sun P, Li H, Zhang M, Liu G, Strickland AB, Chen Y, Fu Y, Xu J, Yosri M, Nan Y, Zhou H, Zhang X, Shi M. Fungal dissemination is limited by liver macrophage filtration of the blood. Nat Commun. 2019 Oct 8;10(1):4566.

Wang J, Li J, Wang N, Ji Q, Li M, Nan Y, Zhou EM, Zhang Y, Wu C. The 40 kDa Linear Polyethylenimine Inhibits Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Infection by Blocking Its Attachment to Permissive Cells. Viruses. 2019 Sep 19;11(9). pii: E876.

Yang L, He J, Wang R, Zhang X, Lin S, Ma Z, Zhang Y. Nonstructural Protein 11 of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus Induces STAT2 Degradation To Inhibit Interferon Signaling. J Virol. 2019 Oct 29;93(22). pii: e01352-19.

Chandrasekaran P, Izadjoo S, Stimely J, Palaniyandi S, Zhu X, Tafuri W, Mosser DM. Regulatory Macrophages Inhibit Alternative Macrophage Activation and Attenuate Pathology Associated with Fibrosis. J Immunol. 2019 Oct 15;203(8):2130-2140.

Palaniyandi S, Rajendrakumar AM, Periasamy S, Goswami R, Tuo W, Zhu X, Rahaman SO. TRPV4 is dispensable for the development of airway allergic asthma. Lab Invest. 2019 Aug 15. doi: 10.1038/s41374-019-0305-y.

PATENTS AND DISCLOSURES Dr. Daniel Nelson receives a US patent (62/928,764) titled “Method of Treating Infections by Bacteriolytic Enzymes and Manufacture Thereof�

Dr. Siba Samal's lab receives a US patent (10,383,936 B2), Infectious Laryngotracheitis Virus (ILTV) vaccine using recombinant Newcastle Disease Virus Vector.

ALUMNI NEWS Dr. Senthilkumar Palaniyandi (Ph.D., 2012) received the Diplomat for Immunology and Virology, American College of Veterinary Microbiologist.

Dr. Annabelle Pascua-Crusan (M.S. 2006) has been serving as a Veterinary Medical Officer at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Devices and Radiological Health Office of Product Evaluation and Quality, Office of Health Technology 3 since 2015. Previously, she served as the Attending Veterinarian at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry and at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), and Research/Clinical Veterinarian at the University of Maryland Baltimore (UMB) School of Medicine Program of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Resources. Dr. Pascua-Crusan pursued her M.S. in Veterinary Medical Sciences under the guidance of Dr. Nathaniel Tablante.

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

Ely Guevara

Sean Riley

Girmay Gebreluul

Siba Samal

Judy Knight

Meiqing Shi

Johanna Lavigne

Nathaniel Tablante

Ricardo Morales

Ekaterina Viktorova

Tam Ong

Xiuli Yang Yanjin Zhang

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