Vector-Borne Disease
Chris Barker
VM: Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
Mosquito-borne diseases, Surveillance (see also: Epidemiology)
My program focuses on the epidemiology and ecology of mosquito-borne diseases, primarily those caused by West Nile, chikungunya, and dengue viruses, and including other livestock diseases such as Rift Valley fever and bluetongue. My research combines laboratory studies and epidemiological methods to understand the environmental drivers of disease outbreaks, and I manage the UC Davis component of the statewide surveillance program for mosquito-borne viruses.
STAR project opportunities in my lab include [1] development of laboratory assays to monitor feeding by individual mosquitoes over time (methods: MALDI-TOF, mosquito rearing and handling) , [2] experiments to define the relationship between temperature and incubation of chikungunya virus in mosquitoes (methods: RT-PCR, MALDI-TOF, mosquito rearing and handling), or [3] analysis of the relationship between West Nile virus risk and drought in California (methods: epidemiology, GIS, basic statistics).
Dr. Barker can be reached via email at cmbarker@ucdavis.edu.
Brian Bird DVM, MSPH, PhD
One Health Institute
(See also: Pathology/Virology, Global Health)
Dr. Bird is a veterinarian and virologist with expertise in virus ecology and viral hemorrhagic fevers. He has an active research program in California and across Africa investigating zoonotic virus spillover and immunobiology from wildlife especially bats and rodents of high-consequence viruses, pathogen-detection, and the development of countermeasures ranging from vaccines for animal and human use to community-based risk mitigation. STAR student projects could range from laboratory analyses to field ecology depending on student interest and needs of currently funded projects.
Lark L. Coffey, Ph.D.
Davis Arbovirus Research and Training
Center for Vectorborne Diseases
Assistant Professor
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
(See also: Immunology/Infectious Disease, Pathology/Virology)
Dr. Coffey studies the ecology, evolution, and transmission dynamics of mosquito-borne viruses including chikungunya, Zika, West Nile, and St. Louis encephalitis that are significant causes of human disease with no licensed human vaccines or treatments beyond supportive care. The goal of her research is to understand patterns of viral molecular evolution and the viral genetic factors that promote arbovirus emergence and severe disease. Her work focuses on how intrahost viral genetic diversity generated by error-prone viral replication influences infectivity and transmissibility between mosquitoes and people or animals. She and her team also developing cheap and convenient improvements to surveillance in mosquitoes by detecting viral RNA in saliva expectorated by sugar-feeding West Nile virus vectors in California. They are also developing approaches to increase safety of candidate live-attenuated chikungunya virus vaccines by restricting their potential to develop revertant mutations that cause illness in vaccinees. Together with the California National Primate Research Center, the team is developing a non-human primate model of human Zika virus in pregnancy that is being used to define the roles of Zika virus mutations in fetal disease and for pre-clinical testing of therapies and vaccines.
STAR students will participate in projects involving arbovirology, virus titration and assessment of viral RNA levels from experimental samples, experiment design including considerations of rigor and reproducibility.
Dr. Coffey can be reached via email at lcoffey@ucdavis.edu.
Please see http://coffeylab.ucdavis.edu for more information.
Janet Foley, DVM, PHD
Center for Vectorborne Diseases
Tick-borne diseases
Summer veterinary students have several opportunities from which they can choose a summer project. The emphasis in the laboratory is disease ecology, epidemiology, and theory of infectious diseases, primarily in vector-host-pathogen systems although there are several non-vector transmitted diseases being studied as well. Students should expect to work every day all day, learn laboratory and/or field skills appropriate to their interests and project, and meet with Dr. Foley as early as possible (preferably in the spring) to confirm a project. Skills will be acquired through work with other students, technicians, and faculty in the laboratory; once a veterinary student is comfortable, they may expect to spend much of the rest of the summer obtaining data relevant to their project, analyzing the data with faculty supervision, and hopefully prepare it for publication.
Dr. Foley can be reached at jefoley@ucdavis.edu.