July 28, 2022
Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases represents K-State at rickettsiology conference
The Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases in the College of Veterinary Medicine was well represented at the 31st meeting of the American Society for Rickettsiology held June 25-28, at Greenville, South Carolina. This meeting attracts international scientists from many different institutions.
Two faculty members, Roman Ganta, university distinguished professor and director of the center, and Deborah Jaworski, assistant professor — fourth and third from left in above photo; were joined by, from left, graduate students Dominica Genda, Jonathan Ferm and Swetha Madesh; and two scientists, Shawna Fitzwater and Huitao Liu.
Ganta was the invited keynote speaker at the opening day reception. He talked about the society's history since its establishment in 1979 and gave his perspectives on past and current active rickettsial research progress, plus his visionary future goals to advance and fill in major research gaps. Ganta listed opportunities available for new generation scientists pursuing careers in rickettsial disease-related research.
"The American Society for Rickettsiology is a great forum to interact with scientists from the USA and abroad having research interests on rickettsial diseases resulting from various tick and other vector-borne pathogens," Ganta said. "Its annual meetings are ideally suited for learning new research advances and also to build a network of collaborations for both young and senior scientists engaged in rickettsial research."
The recent American Society for Rickettsiology conference was the first in-person meeting after the COVID-19 pandemic. This year's conference was attended by nearly 200 scientists representing several different countries.
Oral presentations
Roman Ganta: "Targeted Mutagenesis in Anaplasma marginale to define virulence and vaccine development against bovine Anaplasmosis." Co-authors: P. Hove, S. Madesh, A. Nair, D. Jaworski, H. Liu, J. Ferm, M. D. Kleinhenz, M.A. Highland, A.K. Curtis, J.F. Coetzee, S.M. Noh and Y. Wang and D. Genda.
Jonathan Ferm: "Targeted mutagenesis in Anaplasma phagocytophilium for modified live vaccine development." Ferm is the recipient of an American Society for Rickettsiology travel award.
Poster presentations
Shawna Fitzwater: "Bovine Anaplasmosis prevalence assessed in beef cattle from diverse geographic regions of California." Co-authors: S. Chen, A. Schlieper, G. Maier and R.R. Ganta.
Dominica Genda: "RNA analysis of Ehrlichia chaffeensis 7 genes spanning from ECH_0659 to ECH_0665 encoding for several phage related proteins and their orthologs in related Anaplasma and Ehrlichia species." Co-authors: J. Ferm, H. Liu and R.R. Ganta.
Deborah Jaworski: "Multiple Erhlichia chaffeensis genes critical for its persistent infection in a vertebrate host are nonessential for its growth in the tick vector, Amblyomma americanum." Co-authors; Y. Wang, A. Nair, H. Liu and R.R. Ganta.
Huitao Liu: "EcxR is a global gene regular which interacts with the promoter segments of multiple Ehrlichia chaffeensis genes transcribed by RNA polymeraseloenzyme containing the housekeeping or alternative sigma factors." Co-authors: C.A. Knox, L.U.M. Jakkula, Y. Wang and R.R. Ganta.
Swetha Madesh: "The canine host serving as a sentinel species for tick-borne diseases caused by Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, and Borrelia pathogens impacting human health in the USA." Co-authors: A. Nair and R.R. Ganta.