After a hiatus that began March 20 and continued over the summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Continuum Café located in Lynn Hall made necessary modifications to reopen for the fall semester and has been serving a steady stream of customers since. The reopening came with several changes, including new management by the Purdue Food Company, a subsidiary of Aramark, and some menu and procedural adjustments.
Back open since the start of the fall semester, Lynn Hall’s Continuum Café serves Purdue Veterinary Medicine faculty, staff and students a variety of breakfast, lunch and snack items with policies that are in keeping with Protect Purdue requirements.
By adopting new policies consistent with Protect Purdue requirements, the Continuum Café was able to reopen in August with changes such as limiting the seating in the café and requiring employees and customers to wear masks. Before employees clock in, they must have their temperatures taken and answer a handful of questions such as, “Have you been exposed to anyone who has tested positive for Covid-19?” Additionally, every 30 minutes employees are required to wash their hands and sanitize their workstations.
All menu items are available in a grab-n-go format. Self-serve items like soups had to be discontinued due to health and safety requirements. Fresh brewed coffee remains available but now is served by the staff from behind the counter.
Alisha Referda, marketing manager of Aramark, said business is going quite well in spite of the continuing pandemic. The staff of Aramark and the café are hoping for an increase in sales once things progress to the point where regulations can be safely eased.
The most popular items on the menu used to be the Fiery Chicken Wrap and Grilled Three Cheese sandwiches, but recently the Philly Steak and Tasmanian sandwiches have grown in sales. Breakfast also is available anytime during the café’s operating hours, which is a major draw for students.
Among the changes implemented for the Continuum Café is reduced seating to ensure safe social distancing for customers.
The change in management of the café resulted from a retail dining operator agreement between Purdue and Aramark that was announced in June. The agreement is designed to enhance dining offerings for Purdue’s West Lafayette campus and community, with Aramark operating 35 dining locations on campus, including the Continuum Café and 11 locations in the Purdue Memorial Union
The location of the Continuum Café is perfect for busy students and staff of the College of Veterinary Medicine who are rushing between their classes and appointments and are looking for a beverage or quick bite to eat. Café hours are 7:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Monday – Friday. Click here to view the café’s current lunch menu. Click here to view the beverages and breakfast menu.
The café will continue operating this fall until November 24, when on-campus, in-person classroom instruction concludes for the semester.
Writer(s):
Jonathan Martz, PVM Communications Intern, and Kevin Doerr
| pvmnews@purdue.edu
The commitment of faculty, staff, and students to protecting each other during in-person instruction this fall was commended by Dean Reed as he gave a virtual State of the College address to students October 19.
Purdue Veterinary Medicine Dean Willie Reed continued a fall tradition virtually this month, giving his annual State of the College address to students using the Zoom platform. The event, held at 12:30 p.m. Monday, October 19, attracted nearly 200 participants – a virtual crowd similar in size to the audiences that customarily heard the presentation in-person in Lynn 1136 in past years. Dean Reed delivered a positive message of progress, describing ways in which the college is moving forward on multiple fronts.
Dean Reed began the address by thanking everyone in the Purdue Veterinary Medicine family for abiding by the Protect Purdue pledge, enabling students to remain on campus for the in-person instruction that is so vital for DVM and veterinary nursing students. Dean Reed noted that not only have students, staff, and faculty done their part, but the Purdue Veterinary Alumni Association also assisted by supporting the purchase of PPE needed by students to safely participate in the in-person clinical instruction.
Additionally, Dean Reed emphasized that the college continues to successfully attract research funding. In particular, he highlighted a research project led by Dr. Suresh Mittal, Distinguished Professor of Virology in the Department of Comparative Pathobiology, who recently received a $3.86 million grant to develop a novel Covid-19 vaccine.
Dean Reed also described how the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory expanded its role to offer testing of human COVID-19 samples, partnering with the Indiana State Department of Health and Indiana hospitals, and supporting testing of Purdue students, faculty, and staff. For the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital, the pandemic led to such changes as offering curbside service for clients, with animals being received at their owners’ vehicles and then taken into the hospital to avoid the need to have animal owners entering the facility.
A major highlight of the dean’s presentation involved fly-through videos showing architect’s renderings that depict inside views of the new hospital facilities now under construction just east of Lynn Hall. Additionally, a fly-over video of the construction site gave the students a birds-eye view of the construction, which continues to progress despite the pandemic. The new equine, farm animal, and small animal facilities are on schedule to be completed by the end of 2021.
Not only is the square footage of the college’s facilities increasing, the total number of applicants to the DVM program has been on the rise, with more than 1,670 applicants in 2019-2020, and over 1,500 applicants for 2020-2021, up from 814 in 2016-2017. A total of 334 students are currently enrolled in the DVM program, with 118 students in the on-campus Veterinary Nursing Program and 350 enrolled in the Veterinary Nursing Distance Learning Program.
Toward the end of his presentation, Dean Reed recapped the appointment of Dr. Ellen Lowery as director of the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital and Dr. Chad Brown as the new director of the Veterinary Nursing Program in 2020. He also pointed out faculty and staff awards and honors before concluding by reminding everyone how, as Boilermakers, we keep learning and we keep going. Always, always taking the next step, together…because every giant leap starts with one small step.
Writer(s):
Jonathan Martz, PVM Communications Intern, and Kevin Doerr
| pvmnews@purdue.edu
Meet Alayna Baker, a veterinary nursing student in the College of Veterinary Medicine who is also a Protect Purdue Ambassador! Alayna is one of over 200 Purdue students who signed-up for the program which was developed after the need was recognized for peer encouragement to get the entire student body aligned with the Protect Purdue Pledge. Typical duties fulfilled by the ambassadors have included standing at various stations around campus to hand out masks to fellow Boilermakers and posting reminders on social media to practice social distancing guidelines. Additional duties involve working in smaller groups to create fun activities for students that are still within the guidelines of the Protect Purdue Pledge.
A senior in the Veterinary Nursing Program, Alayna had a personal motivation for getting involved as a Protect Purdue Ambassador. “I decided to apply for the Protect Purdue program because I have several family members who are immunocompromised, and I am very concerned about keeping them safe and healthy,” Alayna said. “I wanted to be a part of the initiative to keep Purdue students and staff safe, which in turn will help to keep my family members safe as well.”
The number of students involved in the program is a testament to the commitment of Boilermakers to keep the campus safe. Alayna is one of two students in the College of Veterinary Medicine who successfully applied to serve as Protect Purdue Ambassadors. The other is Amanda Martin, a veterinary student in the DVM Class of 2022.
A third Purdue student with a connection to Purdue Veterinary Medicine serving as a Protect Purdue Ambassador is the college’s communications intern, Jonathan Martz, a senior in the Brian Lamb School of Communication.
Technique Recreates Tumors in the Lab From Single Cells
Each cancer patient’s tumors have cells that look and act differently, making it difficult for scientists to determine treatments based on tumors grown from generic cell cultures in the lab. Now, thanks to a new 3D cell culture technique developed by a team of Purdue University researchers, including College of Veterinary Medicine faculty member Sophie Lelièvre, it may be possible to personalize treatment by understanding the contributions of different cell types in a tumor to the cancer’s behavior.
“I see a future where a cancer patient gives a blood sample, we retrieve individual tumor cells from that blood sample, and from those cells create tumors in the lab and test drugs on them,” said research team leader Çağrı Savran, a Purdue professor of mechanical engineering. “These cells are particularly dangerous since they were able to leave the tumor site and resist the immune system.”
Cell culture is a technique that biologists use to conduct research on normal tissue growth as well as on specific diseases. A 3D cell culture permits the formation of tumors from cancer cells that grow in three dimensions, meaning that the tumor is more like a three-dimensional potato than a two-dimensional leaf.
The Purdue team is the first to demonstrate a 3D cell culture from individually selected cells. This feat, described in a paper published in Scientific Reports, would allow scientists to more accurately know the impact of each cell on a tumor’s formation and behavior.
“To produce tissue samples that are close to what we have in the body, which allows us to do high-fidelity research in the laboratory, we need to place cells in an environment that mimics their natural milieu, allowing the cells to organize into recognizable structures like tissues in vivo,” said Dr. Lelièvre, professor of cancer pharmacology in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences.
Current 3D cell culture techniques have their limits, said Dr. Lelièvre, who studies 3D cell culture and helps design new cell culture methods in her role as scientific director of the 3D Cell Culture Core (3D3C) Facility at the Birck Nanotechnology Center of Purdue’s Discovery Park. Real tumors, for example, are made up of cells of various phenotypes, or behaviors. How different these cells are from each other is described by the term “heterogeneity.” The cellular heterogeneity of real tumors is not fully understood.
“Within a tumor, most cells are cancerous, but they do not have the same phenotype,” Dr. Lelièvre said. “It has been proposed that some tumors respond to chemotherapy, and some are resistant depending on the degree of heterogeneity of these phenotypes. It’s difficult to pinpoint treatments based on tumors grown in the lab because every patient’s tumors have different levels of heterogeneity.”
A 50-micron glass pipette is used to capture a single cancer cell, which is then deposited onto a matrix gel island to culture into a three-dimensional tumor. That tumor can be tested under laboratory conditions as an analog for the same tumor in a human body. (Purdue University image/Rohil Jain)
A typical cell culture dish or device also has a large number of cells. Scientists have no control over which cells develop into tumors. To understand how the heterogeneity inside a tumor develops and drives resistance to treatment, scientists need to study the contribution of each cell phenotype to the tumor by selecting individual cells and studying their impact.
Dr. Savran had previously demonstrated a microfluidic device capable of isolating single cancer cells from a blood sample. “These cells are extremely rare,” Dr. Savran said. “With a sample with billions of cells, we may find just one or two tumor cells. But since we’ve figured out how to find them, we can now hand them off to people like Sophie to help study their heterogeneity.”
Dr. Savran’s team created a mechanical device that successfully extracted single tumor cells from existing cell lines of breast and colon cancers. They deposited each single cell onto a matrix gel island following Dr. Lelièvre’s advice.
After several days, the team observed that many of the selected single cells had developed into tumors that displayed degrees of aggressiveness corresponding to the cancer subtype of origin. The cells also recreated phenotypic heterogeneity, as shown with an imaging-based quantitative approach used previously by the Lelièvre lab.
“What Çağrı’s technique did is really priceless,” Dr. Lelièvre said. “By simply analyzing the morphology of the tumors developed from individual cells, we could confirm that the degree of heterogeneity among tumors of the same cancer subtype increases with time without any other pressure or stimuli than those exerted by the growth of the tumor itself.”
The researchers also demonstrated that the degree of phenotypic heterogeneity inside a tumor depends on the cell of origin and could be related to fast-growing tumors for a specific breast cancer subtype, bringing new directions of research to understand the underlying mechanisms of aggressiveness in cancers. “Creating specific treatments that can address an individual patient’s cancer is the Holy Grail of personalized therapy, and now we’re one step closer,” Dr. Savran said. The Purdue Research Foundation Office of Commercialization has filed a patent on this technology. The work was supported by the National Science Foundation (Award 1509097) and the Tom Hurvis and the McKinley Educational Foundation. The Purdue Center for Cancer Research supported publication costs.
The Art Museum of Greater Lafayette selected Purdue Veterinary Medicine as the recipient of its Presidential Award for 2020, recognizing five years of collaboration that included support of an outdoor exhibit in 2015 called “The Zoo,” which featured full-size animal sculptures made from recycled materials.
The Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine is known for many accomplishments in veterinary medical education, discovery, and engagement, but now it has a mark of distinction in an entirely different arena – art! Dean Willie Reed accepted an award for the college from the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette, which selected Purdue Veterinary Medicine to receive the Presidential Award for 2020. It’s the museum’s highest honor for a business or organization, and recognizes the college for its long-time commitment to the arts in partnership with the museum.
The award was presented during the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette’s annual members meeting, which was held virtually on Zoom Wednesday evening, October 21. The college was chosen to receive the award by the museum’s executive committee.
In presenting the award, the president of the museum’s board of directors, Dr. Zenephia Evans, recounted a five-year-long partnership between the college and the museum that brought art exhibitions and special events to the community that focused on the health and well-being of animals. “The college provides both financial and human resources to support the events and to create exciting and fun experiences that are free to the public,” Dr. Evans said.
Purdue Veterinary Medicine helped bring a sculpture exhibit called “Caged, the Illegal Pet Trade” to the museum in 2017.
In the summer of 2015, the college along with the City of Lafayette, the Columbian Park Zoo, and the historic Fowler House collaborated to bring two dozen full-size animal sculptures made from recycled materials by Detroit artist Dale Teachout to the community for an amazing outdoor installation entitled “The Zoo.” “On the Fowler House grounds adjoining the museum, hundreds of individuals and family visitors were inspired and amazed by the show,” Dr. Evans said. Due to the success of the first event, Dr. Evans explained, a subsequent partnership with the college in 2017 brought metal sculptures by Michigan artist Justin LaDoux to the museum for an exhibit titled “Caged, the Illegal Pet Trade,” to bring awareness to the unnecessary suffering of many exotic creatures. Then, over the past three years, the college has helped to support a popular outdoor event for dog owners and dog lovers called “Art Bark ‘n Brew,” which drew over 300 visitors in the each of the first two years. “We are anticipating a return of this event in 2021 after a pause due to the pandemic,” Dr. Evans said. She then presented the Presidential Award as a certificate was displayed for the Zoom participants to see. “Dr. Willie Reed, in gratitude for your leadership in bringing public awareness to the importance of animal health and well-being through art, on behalf of the art museum board of directors, we are elated to present you with 2020 Presidential Award.”
Dean Reed responded by saying he was thrilled to accept the award. “On behalf of the college, I want to thank you for this wonderful recognition,” Dean Reed said. “Our partnership with the museum has just been extraordinary and I know I speak for all of our faculty, our staff, and students in saying that we look forward to future partnerships.”
Dean Reed also was congratulated by the art museum’s Executive Director Kendall Smith, who said, “I appreciate the years of support for our exhibitions and events that have focused on animal health and well-being through the arts.”
Art Bark ‘n Brew began in 2018 as a new annual outdoor event at the museum for dog lovers, supported by the College of Veterinary Medicine. The museum hopes to continue the event in 2021, after a pause this year due to the pandemic.
During this pandemic year, the 7th annual Coppoc One Health Lecture will shine the spotlight on immune responses and other issues related to efforts to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. The talk, entitled “Immune Responses in, and Animal Models for, COVID-19,” will feature Dr. Stanley Perlman, professor of microbiology and immunology, and professor of pediatrics at the University of Iowa. The virtual event will be held on the Zoom platform November 5 at 3:30 p.m., and is open to the public.
Development of a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 is considered as critical in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. Successful vaccine development requires knowledge about a protective immune response. Dr. Perlman will discuss previous studies of humans infected with common cold coronaviruses, SARS-CoV or MERS-CoV, with an emphasis on those features that help predict the immune response to SARS-CoV-2. The protective and pathogenic aspects of the immune response also will be described, as well as animal models for COVID-19.
Dr. Perlman received his PhD in biophysics from MIT and his MD from the University of Miami. Trained in pediatrics and pediatric infectious diseases at Boston Children’s Hospital, Dr. Perlman’s current research efforts are focused on coronavirus pathogenesis, including virus-induced demyelination and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and COVID-19.
The Coppoc One Health Lecture was established as an annual campus-wide lectureship highlighting the important linkages between veterinary and human medicine. It is named in honor of Dr. Gordon Coppoc, a Purdue professor emeritus of veterinary pharmacology, and his wife, Harriet. Dr. Coppoc was a longtime faculty member and former head of the Department of Basic Medical Sciences in the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine. He also served as director of the Indiana University School of Medicine ̶ West Lafayette and associate dean of the Indiana University School of Medicine before retiring in December 2014.
Students in class at Kitasato University in Japan view Dr. Masahiro Murakami’s presentation as he leads a Virtual Clinical Grand Rounds Session in Diagnostic Imaging.
In the midst of a global pandemic, members of the Purdue Veterinary Medicine family have found a way to globally engage, collaborate, and exchange with the world around them. Dr. Masahiro Murakami, assistant professor of diagnostic imaging, is leading an international collaboration that is virtually connecting veterinary students from all over the world!
The PVM Global Virtual Clinical Grand Rounds Sessions in Diagnostic Imaging provide an opportunity for students to connect across cultures and gain an understanding of the different approaches to diagnostic imaging. These sessions enable students to collaborate interculturally to find solutions.
In each session, students present their case to the “virtual” class and share their findings. Dr. Murakami and the College of Veterinary Medicine’s global partner clinicians guide students, present cases from their local clinics, and share their thoughts on their different approaches.
PVM Assistant Professor of Diagnostic Imaging Masahiro Murakami shares a case during a PVM Global Virtual Clinical Grand Rounds Session about Diagnostic Imaging on Zoom.
Currently, PVM is working with over 60 faculty and students from Tokyo University, Rakuno Gakuen University, and Kitasato University, all in Japan, as well as Sao Paulo University in Brazil, to create an environment where everyone can learn from others who have varied perspectives and make connections and friends worldwide. These sessions highlight the importance of cross-cultural collaboration for the veterinary profession.
Live sessions are held online every three to four weeks. The one-hour sessions occur when it is Friday night in the US and Brazil, and Saturday in Japan. All the information regarding upcoming sessions and videos of previous sessions is shared in a private Facebook group. Any veterinary student or veterinarian can join this group including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and general practitioners. Click here to join the Facebook group.
This initiative is one of two supported by the Purdue University Virtual Experiential Intercultural Learning Grant from the Center for Intercultural Learning, Mentorship, Assessment and Research (CILMAR) in the Office of International Programs. With demonstrated success, PVM plans to continue these sessions through spring 2021, and incorporate more clinicians and partners into the program.
Funded by a Purdue University Virtual Experiential Intercultural Learning Grant, the Virtual Clinical Grand Rounds Sessions in Diagnostic Imaging attract participants from universities in Japan and Brazil.
Banfield Pet Hospital focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion during its virtual Pet Healthcare Industry Summit, Sept. 14-15. Participants included (clockwise from top left) Melissa Marshall, Banfield’s senior vice president of people and organization; Dr. Ruby Perry, dean of Tuskegee University College of Veterinary Medicine; Dr. Willie Reed, dean of Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine; Lisa Greenhill, EdD, senior director for institutional research and diversity at the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges; and Dr. Courtney Campbell, a veterinary surgeon and host of the veterinary news show “Vet Candy Watch” and the podcast “Anything is Pawsible.”
In the spirit of Veterinary Nursing Appreciation Week, the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine would like to recognize a special couple that has made a difference in the lives of veterinary nursing students – Mr. Harry and Mrs. Freida Latshaw. Harry is a graduate of the Purdue University College of Agriculture, receiving his Bachelor of Science in animal sciences in 1967. He continued his education in the College of Veterinary Medicine receiving his master’s degree in veterinary physiology and pharmacology in 1984. He worked in the College of Veterinary Medicine for 28 years. From 1972-1994 he worked as a large animal anesthetist, and from 1994-2000 he was assistant to the director of the program. In 2000, he retired from Purdue to work for Vetamac, a veterinary anesthesia company he founded in 1990. He is now restoring old anesthetic machines he collected during his career.
Together, they have generously created two endowments that provide financial support to outstanding veterinary nursing students on an annual basis. In addition to these endowments, the Latshaws also became one of sixty Pacesetters who made a significant contribution to the Leave A Print campaign to support the new Purdue University Veterinary Hospital facilities that will enhance the future of veterinary nursing and veterinary medicine.
PVM Director of Development Operations and Donor Stewardship Amanda Dunkle had the opportunity to ask Harry a few questions about why he has chosen to support veterinary nursing.
What inspired you to create the Harry and Freida Latshaw Student Awards and the Harry and Freida Latshaw Scholarship to benefit veterinary nursing students?
A desire to provide a meaningful financial award for a veterinary nursing student that has excelled academically and to provide a scholarship for a deserving nursing student. Veterinary nursing students have been a part of my life for 45 years, and I almost feel an obligation to contribute to the students and their education.
Why do you feel veterinary nursing is so important?
I think the profession speaks for itself. Forty-five years ago, veterinarians did not know what veterinary nurses were supposed to do. Now the profession has several recognized specialty areas in clinical veterinary medicine. The veterinary nurse is an integral part of the veterinary team.
What leadership qualities do you feel are most helpful in a veterinary nurse and why?
Integrity, open-mindedness, the ability to communicate, discipline, and confidence are important qualities for the veterinary nurse to possess. They have to be able to be a productive team member.
What has it meant to you to have the opportunity to learn more about or meet your award and scholarship recipients?
Students always keep me young, so any time I have the opportunity to interact with students it is always a refreshing time.
How do you think the new hospital will impact veterinary nursing?
It will help provide the Purdue Veterinary Nursing Program with the most current clinical skills and equipment. This will allow the students to enter the profession and be confident of their skills.
What advice would you give our current veterinary nursing students?
Students need to realize that one of the most important aspects of their education is the network they build while they are in school. This network includes faculty, staff, veterinary students, and their own classmates. Veterinary medicine is still a relatively small profession and a few good connections can be beneficial.
Sincere thanks to the Latshaws for their ongoing involvement and dedication to veterinary nursing at Purdue! If you would like to join them by supporting veterinary nursing, give now at Giving.Purdue.edu/VetNursing or email PVMgiving@prf.org for more information.
In the face of multiple challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine held its first ever digital “Hire a Boilermaker Career Fair,” providing a safe means of connecting students with future career opportunities. Some 200 students registered to attend and meet-up virtually with 80 employers, ranging from private practices to corporations.
The students who registered were able to upload their resume electronically to a platform called CareerEco. This platform comes with a myriad of benefits, including the ability to use it over the phone or computer similar to Webex and Zoom. Students were able to talk to employers from anywhere, including areas within Lynn Hall. Additionally, the platform offered the benefits of both an exhibit hall where students could see employers give summaries about their companies, and a private channel that students could use to talk to an employer individually.
Due to limited space in Lynn Hall, typically only about 40 employers have been allowed to attend the college’s traditional in-person career fair previously. Thanks to the event being presented digitally this year, about 40 additional employers were able to participate. As a result, the digital career fair provided an excellent opportunity both for upperclassmen searching for jobs as well as pre-clinical students seeking to practice for future job interviews.
Writer(s):
Jonathan Martz, PVM Communications Intern
| pvmnews@purdue.edu
