Tag: discovery

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” —Steve Jobs

The end of a decade brings reflections on the past and hope for the future. Organizations that continue to provide an environment of innovation and embrace change are often those that lead us toward the future. As we have done since our inception, the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s faculty, staff, and students have continued to create the future of veterinary medicine through the generation of novel ideas, unique discoveries, and creativity in teaching and service.

During the past decade, our people have pushed boundaries to produce new treatments, pioneer approaches to solve complex programs, and serve their communities in caring and compassionate ways to address societal needs. Through our innovations, we have helped make veterinary medicine even more vital not just to the treatment of animals, but to human and planetary health. View Decade in Review video.

Observations in Nature Leading to Scientific Discoveries

By Michael Lairmore

On July 19, 2019

In Dean's Perspectives

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” — Albert Einstein

Curiosity is a basic characteristic of scientists in many fields. The ability to observe and form hypotheses to verify or refute is a foundation of the scientific method. Edward Jenner, an English physician and scientist in the late 1700s, pioneered smallpox vaccination by using lesions from workers who milked cows with cowpox, a less virulent form of pox that rendered them immune to smallpox. His understanding of the natural world inspired him to create an effective way to block the scourge of his country and a global threat. Edward Jenner and those like him sought knowledge by embracing the animal-human interface. Today, our scientists are continuing in the footsteps of Edward Jenner. By seeking answers to complex biological questions in nature, these modern-day pioneers are providing fundamental knowledge to advance the health of animals, people, and our planet.

Cycle of Rift Valley fever. (From “Towards a better understanding of Rift Valley fever epidemiology in the south-west of the Indian Ocean” – Scientific Figure on ResearchGate.)

This week, CEPI—the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations—announced an initiative to create a human vaccine for Rift Valley Fever (RVF) virus. The virus causes an acute, febrile disease most commonly observed in domesticated animals (such as cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and camels), with the ability to infect and cause illness in humans. The majority of human infections result from contact with the blood or organs of infected animals or from the bites of infected mosquitoes. Vaccines against RVF have been effective in livestock, and one of these vaccines, DDVax, will be the basis of the human vaccine candidate. DDVax was developed at the Centers for Disease Control by a team including Dr. Brian Bird, now of UC Davis.

A Year of Innovation and Discovery

By Michael Lairmore

On December 11, 2018

In Dean's Perspectives

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”– Steve Jobs

As the year of 2018 comes to a close, it is a good time to celebrate our accomplishments. For the school, this past year was a time of innovations and discoveries in multiple areas of our mission—from basic science to community building.

DVM students welcomed into our Class of 2022.

We welcomed a diverse incoming class of students who are academically gifted and prepared to serve in our global society. They joined and strengthened a community united by our common sense of purpose to serve society.

Talented teams of researchers, clinicians, students, and staff used novel techniques and approaches. They advanced new treatments and helped answer fundamental questions to explain our world and advance the health of animals, people, and our planet.

Enlightenment Through Scientific Discovery

By Michael Lairmore

On August 1, 2018

In Dean's Perspectives

“Scientists have become the bearers of the torch of discovery in our quest for knowledge”. –Stephen Hawking

While sitting in a laboratory meeting as a Ph.D. student, my advisor brought us an image of a virus particle that all of the graduate students recognized as a retrovirus, specifically the genus of retroviruses called “lentiviruses.” We knew this because these viruses plagued veterinary medicine for decades, causing a variety of chronic animal diseases, well known to veterinarians. What surprised us and the world at the time, was that the virus was isolated from patients suffering from a new human epidemic eventually known as AIDS. The world for me changed almost overnight and I dedicated my career to studying these deadly viruses of animals and people.

Researchers collecting samples from a bat

PREDICT’s Ebola Host Project team safely and humanely collect samples from bats in the field. The team is active in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia, where teams are sampling wildlife and domestic animals to learn more about potential host species for ebolaviruses. (Jaber Belkhiria/UC Davis)

This past week, one of our research teams lead by Dr. Tracey Goldstein described the discovery of a new strain of Ebola virus from bats in Sierra Leone. As with most scientific investigations, the new virus was discovered by a collaborative team effort that included our One Health Institute, well as colleagues at Columbia University. As I spoke to Dr. Goldstein about the discovery, she became expressive, excited, but restrained at the same time, trying to contain her sense of discovery with her analytical side as a professor whose job it is to identify the origin of viruses like Ebola. Her motivation was in context to the vivid reality that the most recent Ebola outbreak in 2013-2016 killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa. While this new virus may not be the origin of that outbreak, her team’s work provides more evidence that bats are a likely host for these deadly human viruses and opens new questions in their goal to prevent global pandemics.

Tag: discovery

Celebrating a Decade of Innovation and Discovery

Observations in Nature Leading to Scientific Discoveries

A Year of Innovation and Discovery

Enlightenment Through Scientific Discovery