2022-2023 Pilot Research Program Recipients
Dr. Shannan Rossi,Ph.D., University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX
“Development of a Rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) model to test vaccines and treatments against Mayaro virus, a virus with epidemic potential.” Mayaro virus (MAYV) is an alphavirus that causes fever and debilitating arthritis in human patients. Many experts believe MAYV can emerge to cause worldwide epidemics just as another alphavirus, chikungunya virus, did decades ago. There is no FDA-approved vaccine or antiviral to prevent Mayaro fever. To date, the only animal models for Mayaro fever are murine; the lack of a nonhuman primate model significantly limits the evaluation of effective countermeasures (vaccines and antivirals) for human use. The data gathered here will provide the key foundation to develop a nonhuman primate model of MAYV infection to study disease, transmission, and test treatments and vaccines.
Dr. Rebecca J. Schmidt,Ph.D., UC Davis, Davis, CA
“Wildfire effects on behavior and blood epigenetics (WEBB).” Northern California wildfires have produced smoke plumes covering vast areas, hazardous air quality lasing for weeks, some of the highest particulate matter ever recorded, and increased exposures to unique combustion components. Early prenatal wildfire exposure is linked to adverse birth outcomes in humans and in rhesus macaques, the closest animal model of human neurodevelopment and function, where exposure has been linked to long-term epigenetic changes over genes impacting the immune and nervous systems. Our goal is to leverage existing CNPRC data and samples to investigate developmental and behavioral outcomes and epigenetic biomarkers in macaques exposed in utero or in early postnatal life to major wildfire smoke events to guide human studies on the neurodevelopmental impacts of early life wildfire exposure.