Dr. VandeWoude completed her BS at California Institute of Technology and her DVM at Virginia Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. After a brief stint in Clinical Veterinary Practice she performed a post-doctoral fellowship in Comparative Medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her post-doctoral research involved characterization of the viral agent associated with Borna Disease Agent. She joined Colorado State University in 1990 and obtained Diplomate status in the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine in 1991. Dr. VandeWoude has served a variety of roles at CSU, including Clinical Veterinarian, Associate Director and Director of Laboratory Animal Resources. She has been a faculty member in the Department of Micro-, Immuno-, and Pathology since 1991 (when it was then the Department of Pathology), and is currently Professor of Comparative Medicine and serves as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Dr. VandeWoude's research interests include biology and pathogenesis of Feline Immunodeficiency Virus infections in both domestic and nondomestic felids. Her laboratory studies these viruses in the context of an animal model for HIV/AIDS and as an agent useful for investigation of Ecology of Infectious Disease in charismatic large felid species such as pumas and bobcats. She also studies aspects of laboratory animal medicine and husbandry to develop performance-based standards and practices. She enjoys interacting with students and facilitating research at both the local/lab and administrative level. Outside of work she enjoys engaging her children in lively conversations, hiking, and raising an occasional turkey.
Dr. VandeWoude's Faculty Webpage

 

Dr. Carver grew up in Wellington, New Zealand, and completed his undergraduate and Masters degrees at Victoria University of Wellington and his PhD at the University of Western Australia. His MS research focused on the ecological and physiological impacts of chytrid fungus on amphibians while his PhD studies investigated mosquito-borne disease (Ross River virus). From 2008-10 Dr. Carver performed post-doctoral studies on small mammal ecology and hantavirus transmission at Montana Tech of the University of Montana. He joined the labs of Sue VandeWoude and Kevin Crooks (Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology) at CSU in 2010. He coordinates a large feline disease database and performs statistical and modeling analysis evaluating the effects of urbanization and cross-species transmission on pathogens of wild and domestic felids. Dr. Carver is broadly interested in how environmental changes affect host and vector community structure, behavior, trophic interactions and subsequent pathogen transmission. He is particularly interested in ecological factors that regulate pathogen transmission, with implications to human exposure risk and disease incidence. Dr. Carver's studies focus on the goals of ecosystem preservation and conservation that are complementary with protecting human health. Dr. Carver enjoys the outdoors, particularly mountain biking, road cycling, running, snowboarding and hiking. He has particularly enjoyed the many fantastic breweries that highlight living in Fort Collins.

 

Dr. Emanuelli earned her veterinary and Master's degree from Federal University of Santa Maria, RS, in Southern Brazil. During vet school she volunteered on clinics as well as in the clinical pathology laboratory, which piqued her interest in clinical pathology and research, the area of her MS emphasis. She served as a temporary professor position in small animal medicine, and later on taught clinical pathology and physiology at Centro-Oeste State University. In 2009 she moved to Colorado and joined the Clinical Pathology service at CSU where she is currently completing her combined residency/PhD. Her research project investigates a novel vaccine strategy for feline immunodeficiency virus. Outside of the lab she enjoys being with her family and playing with her young son, watching movies, and being outdoors.

 

Danielle graduated from Emory University with a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies in 2006. After working as a wildlife biology technician for a few years, she enrolled in veterinary school at CSU. She works in the VandeWoude laboratory characterizing viral isolates of FIV in bobcats and performing microsatellite analysis to evaluate relatedness among bobcats in Colorado. She is interested in wildlife disease and conservation medicine. She enjoys cooking with locally grown food, getting outside to ski, hike, and bike, and spending some time on the New England coast in the summer.

 

Justin was born and raised in Idaho, then moved to New Orleans, LA where he completed his undergraduate degree (B.S. – biochemistry) at Tulane University. During his years at Tulane, Justin spent his summers working for the US Bureau of Land Management monitoring the migration of a population of sockeye salmon migration at a remote field camp north of Nome, AK. After graduating from Tulane, Justin worked for the Tulane University Center for Bioenvironmental Research. Prior to beginning the DVM/PhD program at CSU in 2007, Justin (knowing he was about to commit 8 more years of his life in school) spent 4 years working, playing, and traveling around the world. Now in his 5th year of studies at CSU, Justin's research focuses on the ecology and evolution of feline immunodeficiency virus in bobcats and mountain lions. Justin is passionate about learning how to generate and utilize genetic data to answer ecological questions, specifically those focusing on the health, disease, and conservation of wildlife. Away from school Justin enjoys outdoor living, campfires, and enjoying local beer wherever it is he may be traveling.

 

Martha MacMillan grew up in Aurora, Colorado and received a Bachelor's degree in Veterinary Science from The University of Arizona. She returned home to Colorado and worked as an animal care tech in the Retrovirus & Prion Research Lab and received a Master's degree in Biomedical Sciences. She has been a research associate in the VandeWoude Lab since 2007. She assists with laboratory management and organizes in vivo studies in the laboratory. Martha loves her work in the lab. She also has "a wonderful husband and two amazing little boys that are the focus of my non-work life". She also enjoys knitting, reading, movies, and being outdoors.

 

Craig Miller decided at age 6 that he wanted nothing more out of life than to "rock people's faces off". However, after four years of high school and 3 horrible garage bands, Craig settled for a line cook position at a local Ruby Tuesday. He was on his way to become a general manager with his own store when he realized there was a hole in his life. Soon thereafter, he quit his job, went back to college, and was eventually admitted to Colorado State University's professional veterinary medicine program. Craig became known as Mudsnake, and took his position at the helm of this veterinary rock and roll adventure with 5 other vet students in a band called Bog Spavin. Mudsnake soon began to realize his true calling…veterinary pathology. He then began his journey through a combined residency/PhD in anatomic pathology in Sue VandeWoude's lab. His current studies include viral characterization of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) in neurological (NeuroAIDS) and salivary tissues, as well as virus-associated neoplasms. He hopes "to become a totally awesome veterinary pathologist…stopping every once and a while to rock people's faces off". Dr. Miller and his wife have three handsome boys who spend most of their time rockin' out…but also enjoy hiking, camping, soccer, hockey, football, kung-fu movies, popsicles, and ice cream.

 

Dr. Sprague obtained her DVM from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She completed a Clinical Pathology Residency and a PhD at Colorado State University. Her PhD project involved characterization of feline dendritic cells and their role in FIV infection. Her current research interest in the VandeWoude laboratory focuses on the bridge between innate and adaptive immunity, specifically looking at the role of large granular lymphocytes that arise during subacute FIV infection. Other interests include analysis of immunocyte phenotype alterations following FIV infection both in vitro and in vivo using flow cytometry. Dr. Sprague has two wonderful boys who occupy her time outside of work. She also loves to read, do yoga, and spend time with friends.

 

Dr. Troyer became fascinated with the biology of microorganisms at Goshen College in Indiana, where he received a BA in Molecular Biology and performed undergraduate research on yeast genetics. He received a Ph.D from the University of Washington in Seattle studying the genetic diversity and fitness of IHNV, an economically and ecologically important virus of salmonid fish. Dr. Troyer then conducted post-doctoral research on HIV fitness, immune escape and drug resistance at Case Western Reserve University followed by work on innate immunity and immune therapeutics at Colorado State University. As a research scientist in the VandeWoude group at CSU he applies his interest and experience in retroviral pathogenesis, immunity, therapeutics and viral genetics to study the biology of feline immunodeficiency virus as a model for HIV disease and therapy. Dr. Troyer's primary research focus is on the interplay between host cellular factors that restrict retroviral replication and the proteins retroviruses encode to combat cellular restriction. Most of Dr. Troyer's time outside of work is spent with his wife and son. He enjoys biking, numerous other outdoor activities, reading and cooking.

 

Britta earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biology at Willamette University in 2004, and a Master of Science in Biology (disease ecology emphasis) at the University of Utah in 2007. She was an Emerging Infectious Disease Fellow at the New York State Department of Health (2007-2008) and entered the MIP graduate program at Colorado State University in 2008. The goal of Britta's research is to determine if there are differences in the cytokine and antibody response among cats infected with different FIV strains. To accomplish this project, she's developed and validated a microsphere immunoassay (MIA) for the simultaneous detection of domestic cat cytokines interferon-gamma (IFNγ), interleukin(IL)-10 and IL-12/IL-23 p40 in cell culture supernatant, and has modified this assay for cytokine detection in plasma samples. She is also developing an MIA for the detection of antibodies against a variety of FIV antigens to quantify antibody response in different types of infection. Outside of the lab, Britta enjoys biking, hiking, photography and traveling overseas.

 

Cindy received a degree in Clinical Medicine from Beijing Medical Colege and her BS in Microbiology from CSU in 2007. Before moving to the US, Cindy treated TB patients in Beijing. She has worked as a Research Associate in the VandeWoude laboratory since 2008. Her projects include determination of FIV proviral DNA and RNA kinetics in in vitro and in vivo infections, and impacts of co-infections on viral load. She enjoys spending time away from the lab with her two daughters.