BBI Research Scientist Luis Gamboa (far right) joins Dr. Thomas Waltzek (center) and his team at the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab. Photo courtesy WSU College of Veterinary Medicine / Ted S. Warren.
Nearly five years ago, BBI’s Dr. Lea Starita, Ph.D., identified one of the first cases of community transmission of SARS-CoV-2, thanks to DNA sequencing machines in her lab. One of those machines, as well as two other pieces of equipment, are now being used to test chickens and other animals for the H5N1 Avian Influenza nearly 300 miles away at Washington State University.
“Lea is a super team player,” said Thomas Waltzek DVM, PhD, DACVM, a researcher with the Washington Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab (WADDL) and Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) at WSU. “When I learned she was closing one of her labs, I contacted her and indicated this equipment would be a great addition to WADDL and the CVM.”
Starita recognized that “great addition” to WADDL with equipment able to augment WADDL’s capacity to screen samples for emerging viral pathogens.
Moreover, she asked Luis Gamboa, a Research Scientist in her lab focusing on pathogen detection, to conduct training sessions on the equipment for WADDL-CVM scientists – both at BBI’s offices and at WSU. Gamboa also drove to Pullman, Washington to deliver the donated machines personally.
“We’re sharing our knowledge, we’re teaching the WADDL/CVM team advanced genomics to characterize H5N1 and other potentially harmful animal viruses,” said Starita, who co-leads BBI’s work on genetic variants in humans. “It’s important from a public health perspective. WADDL is monitoring for H5N1 and other animal diseases throughout Washington State, and the more tools we can give them the better off they are and we are – all 7 million plus of us.”
The BBI donation total three items:
- A semi-automated liquid pipetting system
- A Lab Hood machine
- A quantitative PCR machine
The total value is approximately $80,000, according to Gamboa.
“We really appreciated the help Luis provided us,” Waltzek said. “His training was so helpful. That’s where the real advantage has been. Equipment is useless without training!”
WADDL supports the state’s testing for early disease detection, outbreak disease surveillance, and recovery testing, allowing for continuity of business and, in turn, protecting public health, food security, and the state’s $1.5 billion animal agriculture industry. Its main lab is housed in a three-story, 61,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility on the Pullman campus of WSU. It is also a Level 1 laboratory in the USDA National Animal Health Laboratory Network, an integrated network of laboratories providing state-of-the-art diagnostic services, high capacity disease surveillance, and outreach to help safeguard animal health, the public’s food supply, and public health across the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.
Waltzek noted the important connection between screening animals for potentially zoonotic viruses – those capable of being transmitted from animals to humans.
“Animals represent an important source of pathogens that may infect humans,” he said. “In a one-health paradigm you involve veterinarians, medical researchers, and biologists all together. Humans and animals live in the same interconnected environment. Coronaviruses like SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and SARS-CoV-2 brought that to the forefront.”
