Progress 09/01/24 to 04/13/25
Outputs
Target Audience:The vision of the Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases (CRWAD) is to bring together scientists, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, industry and government partners to share and present new and unpublished data relates to the challenges and solutions for resolving animal diseases. CRWAD is a conference where the convergence of multiple disciplines aims to provide a venue for communication among scientists studying various animal diseases and between veterinary and biomedical scientists. Over the course of this project, CRWAD organized and hosted a Conference for researchers focused on animal diseases. This Conference provided twenty presentations by distinguished invited speakers on topics including microbiology and disease pathogenesis, immunology, population health, vaccines, and the importance of cross-discipline scientific research. CRWAD 2025 had 578 registered participants. The attendees included 331 senior scientists, forty-five post-doctoral researchers, and 202 student researchers. The Conference included a student award competition also encouraged graduate students to engage in the meeting. A 3MT competition was included in the student award competitions, along with competitions in immunology, microbiology, epidemiology, biosecurity and safety, vaccinology, enteric diseases and bovine respiratory diseases. The meeting featured partner organization meetings (Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, USDA-AFRI Project Directors, NC 1202, and NC 1192 committee meetings). Concurrent abstract sessions and poster sessions encouraged the exchange of ideas and collaboration of scientists. The Conference included 495 abstracts, in addition to the presentations by the distinguished invited speakers. The abstracts included 283 oral presentations and 212 poster presentations. Of the submitted abstracts, 15% reported international research participation, 26% reported USDA project director involvement, and 48% reported direct USDA project funding. Eighty-five participants were from a country outside the United States. Changes/Problems:The project was completed successfully as proposed. Challenges with Conference travel and attendance remain an issue CRWAD works to address. The timing of the Conference in mid-January poses advantages and disadvantages. As with past Conferences, CRWAD is well positioned to continue to improve the Conference each year based on lessons learned from previous Conferences. The project made planned updates to technology and the presentation sessions from the 2024 Conference will inform future adjustments to continue to provide the optimal forum for sharing research on animal diseases. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?CRWAD's annual Conference allowsscientists, graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, industry and government partners to share and present new and unpublished data relating to the challenges and solutions for resolving animal diseases. Specifically for scientists-in-training, the Conference is an opportunity to present scientific findings in a forum that allows feedback and collaboration with senior scientists. These scientists-in-training have the opportunity to be mentored by some of the most notable scientists in the field of animal disease research.The virtual platform of the Conference allows advisors of scientists-in-training to provide feedback to students, as well. For all participants, the Conference provides an opportunity to network with others in the research field to identify collaboration opportunities and network with others in the field. The integration of thepartner organization meetingsof Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, USDA-AFRI Project Directors, NC 1202, and NC 1192 committee meetingsallow for enhanced connections for participants. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Proceedings of the 2025 Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases, compiled by Dr. Paul Morley,are available electronically at www.crwad.org. The Proceedings are archived and available to Conference attendees and the general public at no cost. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The project was completed successfully as proposed. Challenges with Conference travel and attendance remain an issue CRWAD works to address. The timing of the Conference in mid-January poses advantages and disadvantages. As with past Conferences, CRWAD is well positioned to continue to improve the Conference each year based on lessons learned from previous Conferences. The project made planned updates to technology and the presentation sessions from the 2024 Conference will inform future adjustments to continue to provide the optimal forum for sharing research on animal diseases.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Over the course of this project, CRWAD organized and hosted a Conference for researchers focused on animal diseases. This Conference provided twentypresentations by distinguished invited speakers on topics including microbiology and disease pathogenesis, immunology, population health, vaccines, and the importance of cross-discipline scientific research. Nearly 600 people registered for the Conference, with attendees from around the world.The meeting featured partner organization meetings (Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, USDA-AFRI Project Directors, NC 1202, and NC 1192 committee meetings). Concurrent abstract sessions and poster sessions encouraged the exchange of ideas and collaboration of scientists. CRWAD 2025 had 578 registered participants.The Conference included 495 abstracts, in addition to the presentations by the distinguished invited speakers. The abstracts included 283 oral presentations and 212 poster presentations. The featured speaker presentations for the Conference included: Philp Santangelo, PhD, CRWAD Keynote Speaker, RNA therapy beyond vaccination: possibilities and challenges Francois Villinger, DVM, PhD, mRNA applications in nonhuman primate models for improved preclinical evaluation Amelia Woolums, DVM, MVSc, PhD, DACVIM, DACVM, Opportunities for RNA therapy in animal health Jeff Hogan, PhD, Development of Countermeasures for High Consequence Zoonotic and Human John Ellis, DVM, PHD, DACVP, DACVM, ACVM Distinguished Veterinary Microbiologist, Why aren't we all dead?: Improving on Mother Nature's plan for immunization Matthew Scott, DVM, PhD, Investigating bovine immune-mediated mechanisms influenced by viral respiratory Scott McVey, DVM, PhD, Infection and Immunity - Clinical Outcomes Kyoungjin J. Yoon, DVM, Current status of swineviral infections in the US: emerging and re-emerging diseases Armin Saalmüller, DVM, AAVI Distinguished Veterinary Immunologist, Immune response after vaccination - peculiarities of the porcine immune system Anne DeGroot, MD, Potentiating the Application of Immunoinformatics Tools to Animal Health Colin Parrish, PhD, Emergence and spread of viruses in new hosts - the examples of canine parvovirus and H3N8 canine influenza virus Shayan Sharif, DVM, PhD, Perspectives on vaccination as an approach for control of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses Jan Scarlett, DVM, MPH, PhD, Calvin Schwabe Awardee, Challenges to conducting epidemiologic research regarding companion animal welfare Margaret Slater, DVM, PhD, Illuminating the welfare implications of free-roaming unowned cats via epidemiological approaches Alexandra Protopopova, PhD, CAAB, The use of mixed methods to explore the complex issue of companion animal relinquishment to and adoption from animal shelters Rachel Kreisler, VMD, MSCE, DACVPM (Epidemiology), Epidemiological Insights: Classic Tools for Modern Animal Shelter and Community Animal Health Research Gavin Wright. DPhil, FMedSci, Genome-led vaccine target discovery for animal African trypanosomiasis Daniel O'Connor, BsC, AFHEA, Msc, DPhil, Systems vaccinology: utilising the "-omics" toolkit to elucidate the mechanisms underlying immune responses Laura Caldwell Miller, BSc (Hons), PhD, Translating omics research into improved swine health Yongqun He, DVM, PhD, Advancing Systems Vaccinology by Leveraging AI The Conference included the announcement of the third class of Fellows of CRWAD.CRWAD Fellows represent an eminent cadre of scientists from all types of research careers, including academia, industry, and government. CRWAD is pleased to induct three distinguished scientists as CRWAD Fellows. These CRWAD Fellows wererecognized for their distinguished research career, ability to communicate and interpret science to stakeholders and the public, and significant contributions to scientific literature in animal health and disease, population health, and translational medicine. Each inductee has made sustained and notable contributions to CRWAD through service and participation in the CRWAD organization. Election as a CRWAD Fellow is a lifetime honor and all CRWAD Fellows are expected to meet the commonly held standards of professional ethics and scientific integrity and make ongoing contributions to the mission of CRWAD. Reflecting the tradition and spirit of CRWAD, mentoring young research scientists in furthering their careers is an important contribution CRWAD Fellows are encouraged to continue to prioritize. The 2025 Fellows of CRWAD recognize at the Conference included: Frank Blecha, MS, PhD, University Distinguished Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University Radhey Shyam Kaushik, Professor, Department of Biology and Microbiology, South Dakota State University Rodney Moxley, DVM, PhD, DACVM (Hon.), University Distinguished Professor, School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln The Conference and partner organizations awarded thirty-six student research awards to recognize the student contributions to the Conference. Two of the student research awards were the CRWAD Post-Doc awards to recognize the outstanding submission and presentation of a post-doctoral student. In addition to the content of the Conference presentation, the Conferencefeatured partner organization meetingsof featured partner organization meetings (Association for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, USDA-AFRI Project Directors, NC 1202, and NC 1192 committee meetings).The addition of these partner meetings enhanced the forum forsharing federally funded research through the Conference.
Publications
|