Associate Professor - Veterinary Population Medicine
sreev001@umn.edu
Degrees
B.V.Sc., University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India (1986)
M.V.Sc, University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore, India (1988)
M.P.H., University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1991)
Ph.D., University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota (1995)
Research Interests
Dr. Sreevatsan is a veterinarian with advanced training in molecular microbiology, epidemiology, and diagnostic medicine. The principal focus of his laboratory is to define the molecular mechanisms by which bacterial organisms establish infection. His interests surround several issues in host-pathogen interactions with specific emphasis on the evolution of the pathogen and it's adaptation to hosts. Consequently, studies in his
laboratory are directed at:
- Understanding the evolution of bacterial virulence factors in pathogenesis.
- Establishing the diversity of bacterial pathogens to understand the attributes of successful organisms.
- Elucidating the mechanisms of disease causation by bacterial pathogens, and understanding the host responses to infection.
- Development of high affinity ligands to detect and differentiate prion proteins from a variety of hosts.
- Development of ligands that interfere with prion isoform conversion.
The translational aspect of these investigations is in the development of improved
diagnostic tests and methods for microbial characterization and identification, as well as studies into new generations of antimicrobial vaccines and therapeutics. A secondary focus in his laboratory is in the improvement of currently available diagnostic tools. As a result some investigations use state-of-the-art molecular methods including the design of novel high affinity ligands and sensitive back-end detection methods. These are coupled with classical and modified extraction protocols to improve recovery of agents of interest for accurate diagnostics.
Dr. Sreevatsan is currently investigating the molecular diversity in Mycobacterium paratuberculosis (MAP), association of MAP with Crohn's disease interactions between MAP and it's host (human and animal), and developing high affinity ligands to prion proteins to investigate the pathogenesis and new therapeutic modalities for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies.
Instructional areas
- Public Health Rotation
- Infectious Disease Epidemiology
- Zoonoses and other animal diseases with significant public health implications
Publications
For a listing of recent publications, refer to PubMed, a service provided by the National Library of Medicine.
Current Funding
- Development of high affinity ligands to detect and differentiate prions. Department of Army.
- Johne's Disease Integrated program. USDA-NRICAP
- Mycobacterium paratuberculosis - Host pathogen interactions. USDA-NRI: Animal Biosecurity
Current Students
- Xiaochun Zhu, Ph.D. Student (2007)
- Harish Janagama, Ph.D. Student (2009)
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Last modified on Thursday Mar 24, 2005
This page is located at http://www.cvm.umn.edu//facultystaff/vpm/sreevatsan.html