Group leader : Carrie K. Vance
Affiliation: Mississippi State University, Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology, and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State, MS, USA 39762
Research Topics : Animal physiology, Amphibian conservation, NIR and NMR spectroscopy applied to animal and plant pathogens and diseases.
Contact: ckv7@msstate.edu
Description: Our research group started working with spectroscopic applications in animal physiology when Dr. Vance joined a research team focusing on NIR analysis of nutrition in the Giant Panda. We expanded our studies to develop NIR spectroscopic methodologies for determining basic physiological parameters (e.g. gender, reproductive status, age, disease) with the end goal of mapping the demographic movements of giant panda in-situ. Additionally, we have applied NIR spectroscopy to numerous other mammalian species (horses, cattle, elephants, okapi, leopards) and extended our research into non-mammalian taxa (anura, caudates, fish).
Aquaphotomics work: We have used Aquaphotomics to profile the reproductive status of Snow leopards and Amur leopards using NIR spectra collected from urine. In addition, we evaluated the reproductive cycling and performance of mares exposed to the fusarium mycotoxin Zearalenone, which causes hyperestogenism, by the analysis of blood serum spectra. Currently, we are using NIR spectroscopy and Aquaphotomics to analyze biochemical profiles of the pathogens Bovine Herpesvirus type 1, Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus, Mannhemia haemolytica, Xanthomonas spp, and Rhizoctonia solani. Our ultimate goal is to understand the biochemical changes occurring during the course of disease, and validate spectra profiling early stages of infection. Deterministic spectra feed into the development of NIR spectroscopy as a rapid, portable, non-destructive, and accurate diagnostic tool capable of reducing the time required for pathogen and disease detection and identification, which is a determining factor in infection-related mortality rates and the control of further disease spread.