While most researchers are focusing on the prions themselves, Julie Moreno, a molecular biologist at Colorado State University, thinks that targeting downstream effects presents another promising therapeutic approach.
In laboratory experiments, bats have been dosed with so much virus that their tissues end up chock-full—clocking some 10 million units of Ebola virus per milliliter of serum, or 10 million units of the MERS coronavirus per gram of lung——and researchers were still unable to discern serious problems with the bats’ health. Bats and their viruses have, in effect, struck “an immunological detente,” says Tony Schountz, a bat immunologist at Colorado State University.
Gates Institute member Steve Dow, DVM, is the principal investigator of Colorado State University’s first clinical trial in the use of this novel therapy in canines with naturally occurring osteosarcoma.
In Brazil, where armadillos are considered a delicacy, doctors have linked cases of leprosy to people eating the animal and hypothesized that they could have transmitted the disease to family members living in close quarters, said John Spencer, an associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology and pathology at Colorado State University.
The CCTSI is a research partnership between CU Anschutz, CU Boulder, CU Denver and Colorado State University. Grant will enable Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CCTSI) to turn discoveries into better health.
A core principle of toxicology is that the “dose makes the poison,” but dose—or the density of PM2.5 and other gases in the case of wildfire smoke—is just one factor. Duration and frequency matter too, explains Luke Montrose, an environmental toxicologist at the Colorado State University.
When West Nile virus first came into the state, Larimer County and areas toward the plains along the South Platte River basin quickly became the dominant spot for West Nile, said Brian Foy, a Colorado State University professor who studies insect-borne diseases in his Foy Lab in CSU's Center for Vector Borne Infectious Diseases.
Luke Montrose is leading a research study to see how fires are affecting air quality for residents. He’s an environmental toxicologist, and used to be based at Boise State University; now he’s an assistant professor at Colorado State University. Montrose recognized that those over 65 are at greater risk from wildfire smoke due to pre-existing heart and lung conditions.
Launched in 2019, the 5-year Vaccine Against Canine Cancer Study (VACCS) successfully enrolled 800 dogs in less than three years, allowing for a fully enrolled double-blind study of the Calviri vaccine. During clinical trials, scientists found that the vaccine was doing two things: as expected, it’s protecting patients from cancer, but surprisingly, it’s also protecting them from non-cancer diseases.
Adam Schuller, an environmental toxicologist at CSU, has described three ways pollutants might reach the brain: particles travel in oxygenated blood from the lungs directly to the brain; particles directly enter the brain along the olfactory tract; or inflammatory factors triggered by an inflammatory response in the lungs invade the brain. Just as you might check the weather before heading out for a hike or other activity, “it’s getting people in the mindset that they should look at the air quality before they go outside to know whether they should be outside at all,” CSU environmental toxicologist Luke Montrose says.