College of Veterinary Medicine

Veterinary Microbiology & Pathology

MicroArray Lab Research Topics 


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Statement of interest

There are two central premises that guide the activities in my lab.

(1) We recognize that with few exceptions bacterial species encompass considerable genetic diversity. This is best illustrated through whole genome sequences that have shown that less than half of the genes carried by a given strain of Escherichia coli are necessary to “make” an E. coli. The remaining genes are presumably used to equip different strains to reside in specific niches.

(2) The Theory of Natural Selection leads us to predict that the distribution of genetic diversity within a species is not random. If genetically encoded traits lend fitness advantages in different niches, then natural selection will order the variation within a species. These two premises lead us to conclude that by studying the distribution of genetic diversity we can make inferences and formulate hypotheses about how pathogens make their living. This conclusion motivates much of the research in my laboratory involving a diverse array of organisms. Our primary focus is food- and water-borne disease agents that are bacterial, although we work on a number of other projects both independently and collaboratively.

Food- and Water-borne Pathogens and Antibiotic Resistance

Through collaborations investigators in the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Field Disease Investigation Unit, Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, and Agricultural Animal Health Program, the WSU School of Molecular Biosciences and College of Engineering and Architecture, the USDA-ARS-ADRU, the WSU Zoonosis Research Unit, and a number of off-campus collaborators, we are engaged in projects involving most of the leading causes of bacterial food-borne disease. Below you will find links to different projects and relevant citations that describe our efforts.

Salmonella enterica
  • Comparative genetics
  • Surveillance
  • Subtyping
  • Antibiotic resistance
  • Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli
  • Antibiotic resistance
  • Comparative genetics
  • Vaccine development
  • Escherichia coli
  • Comparative genetics
  • Plasmids of STEC and EHEC serovars
  • Listeria monocytogenes
  • Comparative genetics
  • Genetic subtyping
  • Gene expression under stress conditions
  • Vibrio parahaemolyticus

  • Type III secretion systems
  • Detection assay development
  • Comparative genetics
  • Antibiotic resistance and mobile elements
  • Evolution and maintenance of antibiotic resistance
  • blaCMY-2 elements and 3rd generation cephalosporin resistance
  • Comparative genetics of resistance plasmids
  • Genotyping microarrays
  • Pathogen detection (reviews)

    Bacterial source tracking
  • Library-independent genetic marker development (Enterococcus)
  • Assay development and application
  • Stochastic modeling
  • Aquaculture and Salmonid Recovery

    Through collaborations investigators in the WSU Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, the College of Agricultural, Human, & Natural Resource Sciences, the School of Biological Sciences, the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, the University of Idaho, Idaho State University, the WSU & UI Center for Reproductive Biology, USDA-ARS, and the National Marine Fisheries Service, we are engaged in projects involving pathogen diagnostics, Bacterial Coldwater Disease, Bacterial Kidney Disease, and Strawberry Disease. Our work has applications both for trout aquaculture and for the conservation of wild salmonid fishes. Below you will find links to different projects and relevant citations that describe our efforts.

    Coldwater Disease (Flavobacterium psychrophilum)

  • Comparative genetics and phylogenetics
  • Vaccine discovery
  • Molecular and other diagnostics
  • Strawberry Disease



    Last Edited: Dec 26, 2007 4:54 PM
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