Research

The CBS department is actively engaged in biomedical research with an underlying theme of molecular medicine. Numerous extramurally funded faculty participate in an active graduate training program. Advanced study leads to the Certificate in Biomedical and Veterinary Medical Sciences, MS, or PhD degree in veterinary medical sciences. Central research facilities include an inhalation research facility and shared molecular and cellular biology instrumentation. Research is ultimately oriented toward improving animal and human health and in expanding basic biomedical knowledge.

Research Concentrations

Major research concentrations in CBS include cancer biology, cardiovascular disease, developmental biology, neurosciences, and toxicology. In cancer biology, CBS has a focus in the cell and molecular biology of DNA damage and repair systems, while our research in cell-signaling pathways encompasses calcium signaling, cyclic AMP signaling, and diabetes. Ongoing investigations in neuroscience include neural systems research, synapse biology, and deafness and experimental neurology. Pharmacology research interests in Comparative Biomedical Sciences are rich and varied and include clinical and analytical pharmacology/toxicology and drug metabolism; cardiovascular pharmacology and toxicology; inhalation and developmental toxicology; post-transcriptional regulation in inflammation, hepatotoxicity, and cancer; respiratory research; environmental agents in atherosclerosis; and pulmonary immunobiology and toxicology. The department also has research programs in developmental biology, biomechanics, 2-D and 3-D imaging, evolutionary theory in veterinary anatomy, and the molecular biology of tooth eruption and stem cell research.

Students in the professional curriculum have opportunities to conduct research in the laboratories of various faculty under the auspices of an NIH T32 training grant, Merck-Merial grants, or individual research grants of the faculty.

Working with DVM Curriculum

CBS is also responsible for instruction in a major portion of the professional curriculum in Year I including anatomy (cell biology, microscopic anatomy, and developmental morphology) and physiology. Gross anatomy and histology each have laboratory sessions that correlate with lecture presentations. Other first-year courses include biochemistry and neuroscience. Pharmacology and toxicology are presented as separate courses in Years II and III.