USDA Funding Fuels Purdue Veterinary Medicine Research Seeking Answers to Costly Cattle Production Mystery
A four-year, $650,000 New Investigator Award from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA) will support research led by Dr. Viju V. Pillai, a faculty member in Purdue Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Comparative Pathobiology and pathologist at the Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (ADDL), aimed at solving a persistent and costly mystery in cattle production. Dr. Pillai’s team wants to answer the question of why so many pregnancies fail before they are even recognized? The project will focus on the earliest stages of fetal–maternal communication and on a little-understood family of proteins called trophoblast Kunitz domain proteins (TKDPs), whose functions in pregnancy remain largely unknown.
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Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery Honors PVM Clinician Paulo Gomes as a Top Co-Author
Dr. Paulo Gomes, clinical associate professor of dermatology in the Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, recently was recognized for co-authoring one of the most widely read articles of 2025 in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. The publication is an online, open access, international, peer-reviewed journal.
“Paws Up” – brought to you by the PVM Wellness Committee
This week a big Paws Up goes to Gabriel Harris, who is a graduate research assistant in the Department of Basic Medical Sciences.
More Time Together
From the moment Brian met Blackie as a playful puppy at a rescue, their bond was undeniable. Over the years, Blackie became more than a pet. That is why, when Brian found Blackie unresponsive in his yard one evening, he refused to give up. Brian drove Blackie an hour and a half to the Purdue University Veterinary Hospital’s Emergency and Critical Care team.
In Memory: Dr. Ronald P. Miller (PU DVM ’63)
The Purdue Veterinary Medicine community is saddened by the passing of Dr. Ronald P. Miller, of Indianapolis, a member of the College of Veterinary Medicine’s first graduating class, the Class of 1963. Dr. Miller died February 17, 2026, at the age of 89.
