Graduate Programs in the Life Sciences

Research Focus

• Study of viral diseases of dogs and cats

• Detailed analysis of parvoviruses of cats, raccoons, mink, and other carnivores, as well a studies to characterize the minute virus of canines

• Canine parvovirus (CPV) and the closely related feline panleukopenia virus (FPV)

• Understand at a very detailed level how these viruses function - which parts of the virus are responsible for the control of viral host range, how they infect cells, and how the immune responses of the host controls the infection

• Develop better and more effective methods for vaccinating dogs or cats against these viruses

• Evolution of parvoviruses and the viral molecular and cellular basis of the control of viral host ranges by the viral capsid structure