Veterinary Pathobiology Facilities
ImmunKnowledge Laboratory
Dr. Maggioli’s research centers on understanding host-pathogen interactions and host immune responses to infection. Through her ImmunKnowledge Laboratory, she leads multidisciplinary projects investigating host–pathogen interactions and both T-cell and B-cell responses to viral and bacterial pathogens, and vaccine development. Her work includes studies of bovine respiratory viruses—such as BRSV, BVDV, and Influenza D—as well as infections affecting cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. By integrating advanced immunological assessments, pathogenesis studies, and vaccine development, her research aims to advance animal health and enhance protection against infectious diseases.
The Veterinary Virology Laboratory
The Veterinary Virology Laboratory is coordinated by Dr. Fernando Vicosa Bauermann (DVM, MSc, PhD), Associate Professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine. The lab investigates the evolution and control of viruses of veterinary importance, with emphasis on virome profiling of animal populations and biological products, virus survival and inactivation, and the pathogenesis of respiratory viruses of cattle. Ongoing work also focuses on the discovery and evaluation of antivirals against viruses relevant to animal health. By integrating molecular virology, metagenomics, and experimental models, the lab generates data that support improved diagnostics, vaccines, and biosecurity practices.
The Ostler Lab
The Ostler Lab uses DNA viruses to study transcriptional regulatory networks. Our current work utilizes Bovine alphaherpesvirus 1 as a model to study stress-induced transcription driven by the Glucocorticoid Receptor. We have plans to expand our work to include other veterinary alphaherpesviruses including Felid herpesvirus 1 and Equid herpesvirus 1.
Herpesviruses are noted for their unique life cycle of establishing a lifelong latent infection in host cells marked by periodic reactivation, acute disease, and virus shedding. Alphaherpes, including HSV-1&2, and Varicella Zoster Virus (chicken pox), establish latency in neuronal cells and acute disease typically manifests as lesions in the skin, eyes, or mucus membranes.
Veterinary herpesviruses are typically associated with respiratory disease, reproductive failure, and corneal keratitis. All herpesviruses have long evolutionary histories with their host species and typically do not spread beyond closely related species. However, in several notable cases cross-species transmission results in extremely severe, often fatal, disease. Herpes B virus in monkeys can pass to humans through contact with bodily fluids and is often fatal. Similarly, Pseudorabies virus in swine causes universally fatal disease in dogs, so please keep you canine companions away from wild hogs where the virus is endemic.
The Duncan Parasitology Laboratory
The Duncan laboratory is housed in McElroy Hall and focuses on emerging concerns in veterinary parasitology. Current research is directed toward surveying and characterizing novel ticks, tick-borne pathogens, and the role of ticks and animals as important reservoir hosts. The laboratory houses the necessary equipment for conducting epidemiologic, serologic, and molecular investigations, and trains graduate students and parasitology residents. This laboratory often collaborates with others and has studied various other topics including gastrointestinal parasitism in domestic and wild animals, Leishmania spp. in dogs and sandflies, and flea-borne bacteria and tapeworms.
The Neurovirology Lab
The Neurovirology Lab, led by Dr. Kelly S. Harrison, investigates host-pathogen interactions of neurotropic alphaherpesviruses, including Herpes Simplex Viruses (HSV-1 and HSV-2), Bovine Herpesvirus 1 (BoHV-1), and Macacine alphaherpesvirus 1 (Herpes B virus).
Alphaherpesvirus infections represent a significant global health and economic burden: An estimated 4 billion people worldwide are infected with HSV-1 and/or HSV-2, resulting in annual healthcare costs totaling over $35 billion USD. BoHV-1 is a globally important cattle pathogen, causing respiratory and reproductive disease and contributing to more than $3 billion in annual livestock losses. Herpes B virus poses an exceptionally serious zoonotic threat, causing severe neurological disease with over 80% case-fatality rates following transmission from infected primates to humans.
The Neurovirology Lab investigates the molecular mechanisms that govern the transition from acute productive infection to latency to subsequent reactivation, with particular emphasis on host signaling pathways, steroid hormone receptors, and their interactions with the viral genome. Using a translational, multimodel strategy, our lab integrates molecular and genomic approaches with patient biospecimens, three-dimensional tissue culture, and physiologically relevant in vivo models to define viral tropism, replication dynamics, host responses, and mechanisms of disease across molecular, cellular, tissue, and systemic scales. These discoveries drive the development of precision antiviral strategies designed to intervene at critical points in virus-host interactions, namely at the site of exposure before dissemination and damage to the central nervous system.
Through this multidisciplinary research program, the Neurovirology Lab seeks to uncover conserved mechanisms of herpesvirus pathogenesis and translate fundamental discoveries into targeted interventions for human and veterinary medicine, bridging the gap from “bench to bed- (and barn) side.”