Since July, the University’s School of Veterinary Medicine has received almost $1 million in research funds for several research projects that examine human and animal disease and injuries.
Frank Andrews, professor of veterinary medicine in SVM’s Veterinary Clinical Sciences and equine internal medicine specialist, is contributing to these research projects and has received a combined $167,396 on his work this fiscal year: $103,196 from the Zinpro Corporation and $64,200 from Elanco.
Andrews said he has been working with horses for 28 years in addition to 20 years working on solutions for gastric ulcer disease in horses.
Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome, or EGUS, is a painful stomach ulcer in horses created by excess acid that destroys the stomach’s outer protective layer. Typical symptoms of EGUS include “changes in eating and drinking behavior, changes in attitude or recurrent colic,” according to egus.org.
Andrews describes EGUS as a medical condition in the stomach of horses where gastric ulcers of the non-glandular region form and worsen over time.
“Because the horse’s esophagus lining extends into the stomach, the stomach is prone to injury from stomach acid,” Andrews said. “It’s like gastroesophageal reflux disease in people that causes heartburn and esophageal erosions.”
At this time, available medications for gastric ulcers “either buffer or decrease secretion of gastric acid, which can alter digestion of food materials,” Andrews said.
Andrews said his research team hopes it will find a natural product that prevents gastric ulcers in horses.
“Pharmaceutical agents are excellent products, but clients frequently need a prescription, and when you take the horse off the medications, the ulcers recur,” Andrews said.
For four years, Andrews and his team have worked on finding cheaper and more efficient drugs to treat this condition. They are currently researching the effect of seabuckthorn berries produced by the SeaBuck Equine company, Andrews said.
Seabuckthorn is a natural substance that will not alter the horse’s stomach acid and digestion. This allows horse owners to keep the horse’s digestive tract naturally healthy, according to Andrews.
Another research group at the SVM is focusing on the study of the viruses, specifically respiratory syncytial virus and human metapneumovirus, which target children, elderly and immunocompromised patients.
Maria Antonieta Guerrero-Plata, pathobiological sciences assistant professor, and her small research team has received $148,000 for her project called “The Role of Plasma Cytoid Dendritic Cells in Human Metapneumo Virus Infection,” in which they are investigating the mechanisms of virus-induced inflammation.
According to Guerrero-Plata, there is no vaccine for these viruses, and her group hopes to gain the key knowledge to develop potential vaccine and find a new and better anti-virus therapy.
Guerrero-Plata said she has been working on this research at several other universities since she was a graduate student in 1994 as well as working on this specific project at LSU’s SVM since May 2009.
Other research projects from this year include pathobiological sciences professor Shafiqul Chowdhury’s “Improved genetically engineered vaccines against BHV-1 & equine HV-1,” which received $315,000 from Elanco, and professor of veterinary microbiology and parasitology in pathobiological sciences John Hawke’s project on conducting “communication, disease management, and surveillance activities,” which received $25,250 from the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, according to the SVM’s website.
 
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Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]