Tag: microbes on the farm

AVS students awarded J. Witter Research funds to track Cryptosporidium around the UMaine farm!

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Undergraduate Animal and Veterinary Science (AVS) students Natalie Sullivan (4th year), Maria Messersmith (3rd year), and Elaina Cobb (3rd year) were awarded a spring 2022 research award from the J. Franklin Witter Undergraduate Research Endowment Fund! Natalie, Maria, and Elaina will be part of a large student researcher team working on different aspects of this project over the next year, but the three of them composed the funding proposal as they have been working on this project the longest.

The fund supports AVS undergraduate student involvement in faculty supervised research which involves the J. Franklin Witter Teaching & Research Center. A collaboration I am part of was lucky enough to get 2 student proposals funded last year as part of a different project.

Background: Cryptosporidiosis, an infection caused by protozoa from the Cryptosporidium genus, often C. parvum, has emerged as a frequently reported intestinal disease of animals and humans since the 1980s when its zoonotic potential was recognized. C. parvum causes a brief diarrheal disease, which can lead to dehydration, weight loss, and, in extreme cases, death, particularly in children or neonatal animals. On farms, the disease results in intense diarrhea of neonatal calves and is associated with substantial economic losses in dairy farming worldwide as it can have long-term effects on weight gain and production efficiency. Cryptosporidiosis is transmissible via the fecal-oral route, either indirectly or directly, and C. parvum is almost always present in water and soil/bedding. There is no treatment, so disease management and prevention tend to be more focused on animal management practices involving nutrition, biosecurity, and cleanliness. This project centers around the tracking of cryptosporidium parvum in different aged dairy cattle populations at the University of Maine’s J.F. Witter Farm.

Soil samples from the farm were checked for the presence of parasites using microscopy.
The calf stalls have bedding instead of soil floors, so we need to wash bedding samples to collect any protozoa that might have been left there.
Cryptosporidium is most commonly spread through shared water sources so we are monitoring those.
Once protozoa have been washed from the samples, the wash is put on glass slides, where dyes are used to stain the cells so we can see them using a microscope.
Cows are cute but make sure you wash your hands after touching them to avoid infections.
Photos from the Cryptosporidium project.

Importance/Impact: This project will track the trends and prevalence in C. parvum carriage in the Witter herd, and identify if there are certain conditions in which C. parvum is more prone to grow and multiply, especially in dairy calves. We anticipate that any findings will be used to implement new management practices for the control of Cryptosporidium parvum, specifically in bovine management, and reduce zoonosis at this farm. This project will potentially lead to making management recommendations for other farms in Maine.

Research Question, Objectives, and Hypotheses: What are the difference in disease prevalence and contamination between calves, yearlings, and adults in relation to Cryptosporidium parvum? Is infection rate due to risk of age range or animals or housing conditions?

Sarah HoslerMaster’s student, has been coordinating the project but will be defending thesis this summer and is transitioning project leadership over to Ayo
Ayodeji OlaniyiNew Master’s student Jan 2022, will be taking over project management, overseeing lab work
Natalie S.AVS Capstone senior, graduating this May, has been collecting samples and doing microscopy since fall 2021
Maria M.AVS Capstone junior, has been collecting samples and doing microscopy since fall 2021
Elaina C.AVS Capstone junior, started in Jan 2022, will focus on sample collection at the farm
Jada M.AVS Capstone junior, started in Jan 2022, will focus on sample processing in the lab
Lani P.AVS Capstone junior, started in Jan 2022, will focus on sample processing in the lab
Sydney R.AVS Capstone junior, started in Jan 2022, will focus on literature review
Josh F.AVS Capstone junior, started in Jan 2022, will focus on literature review
Amatullah A.Biology Honors, started in fall 2021, will focus on sample collection at the farm
Team Crypto in the Ishaq Lab

This project is a continuation of the pilot research that undergrad Emily Pierce, master’s student Alex Fahey, and master’s student Sarah Hosler worked on over the past two years.

A close-up picture of petri dishes containing a light yellow film of microbes.

Rebecca received an undergraduate research award!

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Rebecca French, an undergraduate researcher in Animal and Veterinary Science, is beginning her time in the Ishaq Lab with an auspicious start: she has been awarded a 2021 research award from the J. Franklin Witter Undergraduate Research Endowment Fund! The fund supports AVS undergraduate student involvement in faculty supervised research which involves the J. Franklin Witter Teaching & Research Center.

Rebecca’s project will involve zoonotic disease tracking in rodent populations that live near farms/human development versus those which live in more natural areas, and will take place at the Witter farm and a paired natural ecosystem. Her project is part of a larger collaboration between myself and a team of researchers, which was recently funded by the University of Maine, but which has not yet been announced (details soon).

Rebecca formally joined my research lab in February of this year, but I have had the pleasure of teaching her in my data analysis class since January, which will be a handy skillset later in the project. She also learn and perform microbial culturing, qPCR, Sanger sequencing, and even some animal trapping, handling, and identification; mammal physiology data collection and analysis.

Rebecca French

Undergraduate Researcher, Animal and Veterinary Sciences

Rebecca is an animal and veterinary science student with a concentration in pre-veterinary medicine. She joined the Ishaq lab team in 2021 as a part of her capstone project, which is focused on flying squirrels and mice that are carrying zoonotic pathogens into Maine.

‘Microbes on the Farm’ video available

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Last week, I gave a presentation to the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Oxford County 4-H Jamboree.

The video is available on YouTube, with subtitles! I sat down to learn how to create and embed them in videos, to help make my science more approachable. The video is made for kids and contains suitable content for all ages, although the difficulty of the content makes it best for kids 12 and up.