Institute FOR antiviral research

By Lynnette Harris

Researchers at Utah State University’s Institute for Antiviral Research have been at work since February testing antiviral compounds and licensed drugs for their effectiveness against the SARSCoV-2 virus, the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. The institute specializes in developing animal models for testing antiviral agents and vaccines and started its initial coronavirus work supported by a $2.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). More funding has since come to the institute from NIH and other sources.

Bart Tarbet, a research associate professor in USU’s Department of Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences (ADVS), is lead investigator on the project, in collaboration with Brett Hurst, ADVS assistant research professor. The scientists investigate how the virus affects organs and tissues causing disease—a critical step in developing treatments and vaccines—and how the virus responds to various treatments. Institute for Antiviral Research (IAR) faculty and technicians began working with the novel coronavirus in test tubes and cell culture plates in February, and have been working with what Hurst said is a very promising animal model for testing possible treatments.

Because of the urgent need to better understand the virus and treat infections, the research team experiments with different disease models simultaneously, Tarbet said.

“We understand the urgency. …I proposed studies with the virus in the lab, in a mouse model, and in (golden Syrian) hamsters that are genetically engineered to be susceptible to viruses that infect humans,” Tarbet said.

The hamsters are the result of genetic engineering done by USU ADVS Professor Zhongde Wang. His lab developed the model because viruses frequently attach to receptors in humans that are not present in animals, severely limiting the ways that potential drugs to prevent or treat diseases can be effectively tested. Hamsters from Wang’s lab have a human gene inserted in their DNA for the receptor to which the novel coronavirus attaches and is taken up into cells.

Hurst said IAR researchers have infected a number of the hamsters and seen them develop disease signs like severe respiratory infections. The group is still characterizing the model and clinical signs to better evaluate if symptoms improve following treatment.

“We see differences among the hamsters as to how the virus affects them and to what degree,” Hurst said. “But they are similar genetically, not identical but similar, so we see degrees in the signs of disease but not the wide range of severity of the disease in hamsters that we do in humans.”

“Of all the antiviral compounds that we evaluate in vitro, less than five percent will

show good activity without toxicity in cell culture,” Tarbet said. “Then the compounds that appear to have an effect in vitro are evaluated in animal models. We consider many factors like the dose and route of administration. We also investigate the therapeutic window, how long before virus challenge it should be administered and how long after virus challenge it can still be effective as a treatment? So Tarbet pointed out that azithromycin is an antibacterial drug—not an antiviral—suggested to protect against co-infections in patients, but the institute’s previous studies found no benefit from the antibiotic in mice that were infected with an influenza virus.

Although they feel a sense of urgency in their experiments, working with this virus requires methodical attention to detail. Incubation times, chemi-

“I’ve worked with infectious diseases for 25 years, and this is probably the fourth or fifth time that I’ve been involved with an emerging disease, developing vaccines, developing models to test treatments, but none of them have spread this rapidly…”

in cell culture and by computer modeling we make predictions, but it’s in the animals that we find the truth because animals are far more complex than cell cultures.”

Just as test tubes are not rodents, rodents are not humans, so at each step in the process of gaining approval to treat patients, more compounds are proven ineffective. In January, the World Health Organization published a short list of “candidate therapeutic agents” for evaluation against Covid-19 and the USU team has worked with some of those compounds and new ones. The NIH added several other potential drugs to the list, including chloroquine and azithromycin that were mentioned in press briefings with the U.S. Coronavirus Task Force. cal and physiological processes, and hamster gestation don’t speed up because researchers feel a heightened sense of urgency.

All work with the virus is done by faculty researchers and lab technicians who are trained to work safely in the institute’s level 3+ biosafety containment laboratory. (Note: biosafety levels are ranked 1-4, with 4 being the most stringently regulated. There are few level-4 labs in the world other than those run by federal-level health and safety organizations. A graphic explaining the differences among laboratory biosafety levels 1 through 4 is available at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, cdc.gov/cpr/infographics/biosafety.htm).

Top: Research Assistant Professor Brett Hurst at work in USU’s Institute for Antiviral Research. Above: Research Associate Professor Bart Tarbet.

Hurst said, as a virologist, he has been concerned that many social media messages in the early days of the pandemic minimized the virus and its probable impacts with comparisons to rates of illness and death caused by seasonal influenza. Many more people typically get influenza, but the percentage of people who become extremely ill or die is much higher with COVID-19 infections.

“While the number (of deaths) may go down, it is still likely to be higher than influenza and thus it represents a greater threat at this time and something that we need to be vigilant about,” Hurst said.

“What is surprising about this virus is how rapidly it has evolved and spread around the world,” Tarbet said. “I’ve worked with infectious diseases for 25 years, and this is probably the fourth or fifth time that I’ve been involved with an emerging disease, developing vaccines, developing models to test treatments, but none of them have spread this rapidly….It’s almost daily that we’re seeing big changes and almost daily that discoveries are made, but there are still many things we don’t know the answers to, so we’re working as quickly as we can.”

Tarbet’s experience also makes him certain there will be future pandemics, many of them likely to start in animals. He teaches a “One Health” course examining how people, animals, and their environments are all part of the same system and said we need greater understanding of how diseases spread. “In the past 30 years, 70 percent of new and emerging diseases in humans have come from animals,” he said. “And 50 percent of physicians say they could not diagnose a zoonotic illness because it’s an animal disease.”

Hurst said, “We have learned a lot in a very short time, but we still have work to do to develop a successful treatment or vaccine. We don’t have a miracle cure or way to prevent the spread of this virus, so we are doing the same things that we have done for months—social distancing, wearing masks, and increasing hygiene procedures. Many of us have grown tired of the repetitive nature of these tasks and the limitations on our activities so we become lax in our approach. Our social patience has worn out even though the virus is still spreading.”

Hurst said the public is also getting an opportunity to see science in new ways because typically when research was published, experiments had been refined and repeated and papers don’t cover all the failed experiments and problems.

“I think people have to adjust to the realities of science and that it’s not all as neat and pretty as it looks when a paper is published,” Hurst said. “There are a lot of speed bumps along the way. �

Other Responses to the Pandemic

Top: Because it’s nearly impossible to distance in a soil pit and work happens in small groups, the lab for Professor Janis Boettinger’s soil genesis and morphology course looks a little different this semester. Photo courtesy of John Lawley. Middle: The USU Equestrian Team continues training while observing campus rules for working in groups by wearing their custom team masks.

Bottom: Students had already successfully started plants in their labs when the switch to 100% online instruction happened in the spring. Students continued caring for plants but with smaller crews. Annual plant sales from the Young Teaching Greenhouse and Plant Shop support Plant Science Club learning activities. This year’s sale went online for curbside pick-up and wrapped up with a one-day, outdoor sale.

why i give

When Sheryl was deciding where to attend college, her father suggested Utah State University. Though the family were California natives for generations, her father, Don Swain, attended USU in the 50s. Don fell in love with USU and graduated with a BS and MS in engineering. Sheryl thought,”Why on earth would I ever go to USU?” Ironically, two years later, after attending Ricks College as an academic and athletic scholar, she was recruited to play volleyball at USU. She fell in love with USU and Logan and stayed in the valley for over 30 years. During that time, she worked in a nutrition research group on campus, completed an MS in health and human movement, and taught in the dietetics program. Two of her four children are currently at USU. Both have benefited from academic and/or athletic scholarships.

“The only way I was able to attend college was because of scholarships. I have been giving back small amounts monthly through payroll deduction with the intent to someday create an endowment to provide scholarships for students in nutrition and dietetics. Bruce and I are now able to do so and we are thrilled!”

— Bruce and Sheryl Kimball

Paula and Brian are longtime supporters of the university and have always wanted to leave a legacy at Utah State in addition to their planned estate gifts, but there was the question of timing. Last year, when they heard about the USU’s new Aggie Family Scholarship, they knew the time was right. The limited-time, matching gift opportunity allowed them to establish an endowment over five years, while still having scholarship funds made immediately available to students. They loved the idea so much, they established two, one in the School of Accountancy (Paula) and another in the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning (Brian). Now the couple gets to hear yearly about how their gifts are helping fellow Aggies.

— Brian Huculak and Paula Rosson

Celebrating the Class of 2020

When commencement had to be cancelled this spring, USU’s colleges created new ways to recognize graduates. Instead of being the site for commencement, the Smith Spectrum became the workspace where college staffers packed boxes that were shipped to each 2020 grad. Our newest CAAS alumni received their diplomas, commencement programs, medallions, socks and other USU swag, a letter from Dean Ken White, and a treat from the Aggie Chocolate Factory (specially packaged to withstand July temperatures in transit).

Cultivate | Summer/Fall 2020 25Photos by Dennis Hinkamp

Changing the World, One Potato at a Time By Madison Leak

“FREE POTATOES,” Ryan Cranney wrote on his Facebook page on April 14. “We started dumping potatoes today as we have no home for them because of this COVID-19 disaster. The potato supply chain has definitely been turned upside down. If you would like a few bags come on by.”

The COVID-19 pandemic put a cloud of uncertainty over the entire agriculture industry, and Ryan Cranney and his partners in the 20,000-acre Cranney Farms in Oakley, Idaho, which has been in his family for five generations, felt its dark shadow as restaurants, schools and the other usual ends of the supply chain stopped buying. “We couldn’t find a place to go with our potatoes,” Ryan said. “Customers couldn’t take them because the demand was so low, so I found a nice clean spot on the ground and dumped about 1.2 million pounds of seed potatoes there.”

Ryan planned to feed the potatoes to some of his beef cattle, but then had a better idea.

“I was just looking at that pile and thinking there wasn’t really a point in wasting all of those potatoes on cows, so I took a picture and posted it on Facebook and told people to come grab some. I was definitely not anticipating that post going viral,” Ryan said with a chuckle.

More than 11,000 Facebook shares and 1,500 comments later, one could say it went viral. “I figured it would stay pretty local, and a lot of people were from Northern Utah and Southern Idaho, but we had people from Vegas, Elko, somewhere in Wyoming, up in Moscow and even one lady from Kansas,” Ryan recalled. “We had calls from California and Ohio but I told them it wasn’t really worth the drive.”

As if that publicity wasn’t enough surprise, news stations then got wind of Ryan’s act of service.

“CNN, Fox News, NPR called and it really took off,” he said. “Then I did LIVE with Kelly and Ryan, it was kind of crazy. I think it gave inspiration to be kind to others and to think of others. The vast majority came and got a pickup load and gave it to those who needed it and that was really special.”

Cranney Farms teamed up with the charity Farms to Foodbanks and sent a

truckload of potatoes to the Bronx, New York, where people were struggling in a COVID-19 hot spot in the spring. Ryan also had the opportunity to help a family halfway across the world.

“Many of you from all over the world have asked me if there is anything you can do to help,” Ryan said in a video posted on his Facebook page. “Well my friends, now is your chance to literally help change the lives of three young friends of mine.”

In the media frenzy that followed the story hitting the air, Ryan connected with Susan and her family in Nairobi, Kenya. Susan is raising her three young children in the slums of Nairobi and the pandemic added new struggles to their lives. She commented on the Facebook post that she wished the Cranney’s potatoes were where she lived because food was scarce and difficult to get during quarantine restrictions. Ryan started a conversation with Susan about the pandemic in Kenya and her family. She asked for nothing, but Ryan called on his newfound Facebook following to help Susan chase her dream of putting her children through college.

“I want to see Susan’s dream come true and I am going to make it happen one way or the other,” Ryan continued. “I am calling upon you today to help. Please feel free to share just a little of what God has given you to potentially change the destiny of generations of Susan’s posterity.”

A Utah State University alum, Ryan values higher education and all of the opportunities it can bring. He graduated from USU in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a minor in finance. Cranney and his wife Heather are great friends and supporters of the College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences.

“Mike Lyons was one of my professors in the poli sci program and he was great,” Ryan said. “He helped me stay with the program and I really appreciated that.”

One of Ryan’s favorite memories at Utah State was made his freshman year in 1990, when the Aggies played the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Rebels in basketball.

“That was the game when someone put the blue dye under the opposing team’s bench,” Ryan said. “UNLV won the National Championship that year and we took them into overtime. It was awe-

“I was just looking at that pile and thinking there wasn’t really a point in wasting all of those potatoes on cows, so I took a picture and posted it on Facebook and told people to come grab some. I was definitely not anticipating that post going viral.” - Ryan Cranney

Above right: Ryan Cranny (right) talks with Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest on Live with Kelly and Ryan.

some. You really can’t beat the students at Utah State. My family and I attend a lot of athletic events, and I’ve spoken to a few agriculture classes up on campus and that’s always fun. All four of my kids have attended or are attending Utah State. We’re definitely Aggies.”

Ryan is grateful for his years as a student at Utah State and all the lessons learned.

“USU gave me freedom to explore my entrepreneurial spirit,” Ryan recounted about his time at Utah State. “Academics were always important to me, and Utah State really allowed me to explore and gave me a lot of confidence. I loved, still love, the atmosphere up on campus, it’s just great.” �

by Kynda Curtis, Professor, Department of Applied Economics

The food system in the United States is a complex web of farms, processors, shippers, packers, warehouses, millers, and final outlets including the retail grocery and food service industries such as restaurants, schools, hotels, and hospitals. Most food products are heavily processed, only products such as fresh produce, eggs, and milk are packed and shipped directly to the grocery store or school. Due to the large degree of food processing required, farmers receive only $.11 cents on average of every dollar we spend on food. While food production does take place in all 50 states, most of our food is produced in California and the mid-western states. Transporting food nationwide requires complex trucking, rail, and air shipping systems. Additionally, we import and export food world-wide. In 2018 U.S. food exports exceeded imports by about $11 billion.

COVID-19 has impacted our lives a great deal, but it has especially impacted where and how we eat. Our food system has had to bend a great deal due to both supply and demand shocks resulting from COVID-19. It has been said that while our food system is very efficient, it’s not very flexible. Here are a few questions you may have about the impacts of COVID-19 on our food system.

Why did we experience food shortages at the grocery store?

Our food supply chains are very efficient and employ “just-in-time” systems, where grocery retailers track customer behavior over time and only order what they need. This means there isn’t any extra inventory, and thus when consumers were told to stay home in mid-March, the spike in retail grocery purchases shocked the system and created shortages. These short-term shortages are ironed out in the longer-term which is now the case in many parts of the country, where grocery store shelves are looking more “normal,” with few, if any, outof-stock items.

The increased spending at the grocery store resulted from stay-at-home orders and school closures. Americans were no longer eating at school or work, nor meeting colleagues and customers for lunch or celebrating family events with special restaurant dinners. Many restaurants were closed or only providing limited curbside pick-up meal services. Additionally, food shortages led to increased grocery store pricing. Grocery pricing nationwide increased by 4.6% from July 2019 to July 2020 (USDA ERS, 2020)

Nationwide grocery spending is still up 13.1% (as of August 23) over January 2020 levels, but down from its high of 73.7% on March 18 (tracktherecovery.org). Restaurant and hotel spending remain lower than January 2020 levels (-26.2% as of August 23), but has improved since its low of -66.7% on March 31.

As shown in Figure 1, supermarket foot traffic is 28% below the 2019 levels (as of August 31) and has dropped off from mid-March highs. Foot traffic at sit-down restaurants has rebounded substantially over early April lows, but is still about 36.5% (as of August 31) under the 2019 levels.

In Utah, overall consumer spending was 8.7% lower on August 23 than in early January 2020. Consumer spending on groceries was up 33%, down from a high of 109% March 16, and restaurant spending was down 25.2% from January 2020 levels (tracktherecovery.org).

Why couldn’t food bound for restaurants, hotels, and schools be rerouted to grocery outlets and food banks?

One of the primary reasons that food can’t be rerouted easily is that restaurants/hotels, schools, and retail grocery have completely different supply chains and the connections and relationships in one supply chain don’t transfer automatically to another. Also, the form and type of products used by each final market are different. For example, eggs destined for schools are often powdered, those headed for restaurants come in large packets of 36 or more, and those in grocery stores come in one dozen cartons. Milk headed to schools comes

Supermarkets

Sit-Down Restaurants

Figure 1. Relative Foot Traffic (Visits) for Supermarkets and Sit-Down Restaurants, 2020 vs 2019, U.S. Source: safegraph.com/dashboard/ covid19-commerce-patterns

in small containers (8 oz.) and often include a chocolate option, the milk you buy in the grocery store is packaged in larger pint, half gallon and full gallon containers. Also, the variety or type of food product demanded by each final market can also be very different. For example, the average grocery shopper only purchases about 50 popular fruits and vegetables, but restaurants use up to 3,000 different produce items.

Why were farmers and ranchers dumping milk and destroying livestock when there were food shortages?

When the demand for foods dropped off heavily in the food service and school markets, products held in storage at the processing and packaging points of the food supply chain were at capacity. There was essentially no space to put new milk and other products arriving from farms and since milk, for example, is highly perishable, it had to be dumped on farm or at delivery.

Also, due to processer closures amidst COVID-19 outbreaks at those facilities meat processing volumes declined sharply from 2019 levels (up to 40%) in late April 2020. Workers at many facilities were quarantined and others walked out demanding safer working conditions and PPE. As of July, cattle and hog processing levels

were back to 2019 levels. Chicken processing levels were relatively unaffected. Meat processing is highly concentrated, as 10 plants slaughter 63% of all cattle and 15 plants slaughter 59% of all hogs in the U.S. Hence, the closing of just three or four plants can cause major disruptions in the meat supply chain. Genetic breeding of animals and feed lot practices create a situation where animals have to be slaughtered at a specific time in order to property fit slaughter machinery. Also, animals can become too big for their bone and muscle structure if they are not slaughtered at the appropriate time, thus many animals were disposed of prior to processing.

What might increase flexibility in our food system moving forward?

The events surrounding COVID-19 have increased our awareness of the vital role that local food systems can play in providing food security when national food systems break down or are impeded. Local food systems, often referred to as short supply chains, are flexible and can more easily pivot to serve new markets. While local food demand is strong, it primarily functions with chefs and consumers, who purchase directly from growers at farmers markets, farm stands, and through community supported agriculture (CSA) programs or grower websites. Many aspects of a strong local food system are missing, such as millers, processors, bakers, butchers, etc. Local, state, and federal policies which better enable the success and sustainability of local food systems are needed. Consumers concerned with empty grocery shelves have turned to local food providers across the country, buying produce and meat directly from producers, who have seen large increases in CSA program participation and online sales of their products—as much as 500% in some cases. Will this trend in local food buying continue? Good question. My feeling at this time is that many consumers who had not participated in a CSA or purchased beef from a local rancher prior to the pandemic will continue to do so even after COVID-19 as they discover the value of the buy-local experience (freshness, taste, community, etc.). Will some go back to their old buying habits? Yes, some will, but certainly not all. �

Professor Kynda Curtis discussed food distribution and disruption as a guest on the Instead podcast hosted by USU’s Office of Research. Find the podcast’s website at Research.usu.edu/Instead and go to episode 21: Stocking up on Locally Grown Food with Dr. Kynda Curtis.

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