The mission of the VandeWoude Lab is to:

Train undergraduate, graduate, pre- and post-DVM students, and post-doctoral fellows in modern techniques in molecular virology, with emphasis on experimental design, data interpretation, and accurate and fluent reporting of results; Strive to continuously develop new methodologies to apply to the research process; Facilitate productive and collaborative interactions between SVRG lab members and collaborators both internal and external to CSU; Extrapolate findings to whole animal and population health, in vivo relevance, and community/ecological impacts; Challenge existing dogma with an open mind and thoughtful approach; Generate enthusiasm and appreciation for the impact of well-considered scientific approaches on human and animal health and well-being; and, Provide a supportive, lively, challenging, cooperative and fun environment for scientific investigations in complementary disciplines.

The aims of the major research projects under investigation in the SVRG (Sue VandeWoude Research Group) include:

Pathogenesis

• Host and viral mechanisms contributing to lentiviral pathogenicity
• Features of lentiviral adaptation and evolution relative to cross-species transmission and adaptation
• Host intracellular restriction mechanisms and innate immunity during retroviral infection
• Intra-host disease dynamics relating to FIV pathogenicity—i.e. viral cell targets and tissue level impacts that predict/effect disease outcome
• Relating peripheral blood cell characteristics to immunological responses and disease outcomes
• Mechanisms of lentiviral-associated neoplasia
• Novel approaches for lentiviral vaccine development and therapeutic intervention
• Development of innovative approaches and new diagnostic assays for study of host and viral kinetics and pathogenesis

Ecology of Infectious Disease

• Understanding how urbanization, habitat fragmentation and sympatry with domestic cats influence disease dynamics in bobcats and pumas
• Exploring modes of pathogen transmission that result in wildlife exposure to human and domestic animal diseases, and domestic animal and human exposure to wildlife diseases
• Utilization of landscape genetic approaches to evaluate geographic determinants of interactions between subpopulations and cross-species disease transmission events
• Collaborations with federal, state, and academic partners to develop a disease database for free-ranging North American felids (bobcats, pumas, feral domestic cats)

Laboratory Animal Medicine/Husbandry

• Behavioral and physiological impacts of environmental enrichment on laboratory rodents
• Laboratory Animal Disease investigations