About the Linda F. Hayward Florida Veterinary Scholars Program: Summer 2023 » About the Linda F. Hayward Florida Veterinary Scholars Program » Veterinary Research » College of Veterinary Medicine

The Linda F. Hayward Florida Veterinary Scholars Program (previously the Florida Veterinary Scholars Program) provides an opportunity for veterinary students to engage in hypothesis-driven research over a 10-12 week period. For UF students, this happens between the 1st and 2nd years. The mission is to expose veterinary students to career opportunities in biomedical research. This may include Industry (drug development, testing, marketing), Government (CDC, NIH, USDA) and Academia-based paths.

The 2022 event was a massive success!

← View highlights from previous events

Apply now for the 2023 symposium! See links and due dates below.

Program Dates: May 22 – July 28, 2023
National Symposium: Aug 3 – 5, 2023 in Puerto Rico

2023 FVSP Application

Faculty Mentors

Applications due Jan 20, 2023 at 5PM

2023 FVSP Application

Students

Applications due Jan 31, 2023 at 5PM

This year’s faculty mentors and their research interests:

Name	Keywords	Abstract
Andrew Allison	bat, wildlife virology, picornavirus, phylogenetics	Biological characterization of newly discovered bat picornaviruses
Juan M. Campos Krauer	deer, wildlife virology, serotype, Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease virus, Bluetongue virus	Identifying Pasteurella multocida serotypes involved in co-Infections with Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Virus and Bluetongue virus in farmed white-tailed deer in Florida
Stanley Kim	orthopedics, 3D printing, skeletal fixator, canine	Customized 3D printed guides for external fixator pin placement in dogs
Stanley Kim	contamination, teaching methods, aseptic technique, veterinary students	Characterization of contamination events during gloving and gowning amongst veterinary students in a teaching hospital setting
Stanley Kim	minimally invasive technique, osteotomy, canine, orthopedics	Feasibility of percutaneous osteotomies in dogs
Mary Brown	mycoplasmas, waxworm, disease etiology	Virulence Potential of Mycoplasmas from Marine Mammals
Daniel Brown	neuropathology, bacterial infection	Invertebrate model of Mycoplasma canis pathogenicity
Heather Walden, Jeff Gruntmeir, Julie Levy, Patricia Dingman and Janet Sosnicki	nematode, parasitology, feline, PCR	Filarioid diversity in shelter cats in Florida
Heather Walden, Rob Ossiboff, and Jim Wellehan	pentastome, parasitology, snake, DNA quality	Assessing DNA quality and establishing qPCR for Raillietiella orientalis
Amara Estrada, Chris Martyniuk, and Chris Vulpe	cardiomyopathy, gene therapy, feline, CRISPR	CRISPR gene targeting in feline myogenic precursor cells
Chris Vulpe, Amara Estrada, and Chris Martyniuk	titin mutations, Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), CRISPR, Doberman Pinscher	CRISPR gene targeting in canine fibroblast cells for titins
Chris Vulpe	tauopathy, neurodegenerative disorder, brain slice assay	Brain Slice model of Tauopathy
Chris Vulpe	chronic kidney disease (CKD), agricultural chemical use, heat exposure, rodent model	Rodent Model of Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology
Chris Martyniuk, Amara Estrada, and Chris Vulpe	Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), canine, CRISPR, Doberman Pinscher	CRISPR gene targeting in canine fibroblast cells for pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4
John F. Roberts	Ovarian Follicular Dysplasia (OFD), bovine, cattle, artificial intelligence, neural network, ovarian tumor, digital histology	Characterization of Bovine Ovarian Follicular Dysplasia (OFD) in Florida Cattle utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in quantitative digital pathology
Jong Hyuk (Jon) Kim	hemangiosarcoma, osteosarcoma, pathobiology, canine, machine learning, DNA	Early Detection of Cancer in Companion Dogs Using Liquid Biopsy
Julie Moore	malaria, genetics, inflammatory factors, PCR	Influence of malaria infection on gene expression in the mouse
Aaron Mickle	bladder pain, interstitial cystitis, nociception, optogenetics	Involvement of Urothelial cells in bladder pain
Aaron Mickle	neuroscience, spinal cord injury (SCI), bladder function, ampakines	Effect of chronic ampakines on bladder function following SCI
Nancy Denslow	polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), minnow, wildlife contamination, ecological conservation	PFAS effects on fathead minnow development
Nancy Denslow	polyclonal antibody, immunology, manatee, C-reactive protein (CRP), proteomics	Testing a New Diagnostic Polyclonal Antibody Against C-reactive Protein in Manatees
Maria von Chamier	sexually transmitted infection (STI), nicotine exposure, pathogenicity	Nicotine as a risk factor for genital infection
Kuttichantran Subramaniam	sunshinevirus, snakes, wildlife virology, respiratory disease	Characterization of a Novel Sunshinevirus from a Collection of Snakes in Florida
Kuttichantran Subramaniam	picornavirus, fish, wildlife virology, metagenomics	Molecular Characterization of Picornaviruses Isolated from Wild Fish in Kentucky
Ronald Gonçalves	canine, septic peritonitis, qualitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR)	Early diagnosis of canine septic peritonitis by microbial quantitative polymerase chain reaction - qPCR analysis and its effects on patient outcome
Bret Moore	veterinary industry, specialty medicine, specialty referral	The veterinary specialty referral system: how do we improve collaborative care and access to specialty medicine?
Bret Moore	feline diffuse iris melanoma (FDIM), meta-analysis, ophthalmology	Feline diffuse iris melanoma: A 23 institutional multivariate analysis to guide current therapy and future prospective studies
Bret Moore	tegu, reptile, wildlife ecology, conservation, vision, ophthalmology	The Visual Fields of the Argentine black and white tegu (Salvator merianae): understanding vision as a role for controlling an invasive population
Marília Takada	Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC), feline, dinaciclib, cyclin dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKi), radiation oncology	Evaluation of dinaciclib as a radiosensitizer for feline oral squamous cell carcinoma
Helena Zomer	Mesynchymal Stem Cell (MSC), cell differentiation, regenerative medicine, stem cell bank	Establishing an allogeneic mesenchymal stem cell bank for regenerative medicine research at the UF Veterinary Teaching Hospital
Iske Larkin and Jonathan Cowart	manatee, cryopreservation, semen, conservation, threatened species	Preliminary development of liquid storage protocols for short- and long-term preservation of West Indian manatee semen

2023 Program Director:

Heather Walden, PhD (Comparative, Diagnostic and Population Medicine): Director

2023 FVSP Board Members:

Apichai Tuanyok, PhD (Infectious Diseases and Immunology)
Chris Martyniuk, PhD (Physiological Sciences)
Domenico Santoro, DVM (Small Animal Clinical Sciences)
Ramiro Isaza, DVM (Large Animal Clinical Sciences)

With thanks to our sponsors:

2022 Highlights

Faculty mentors and their students participate in the poster session in our Banfield seminar room.