The benefit of having the Shared Resource on campus is to be able to empower researchers—whether they are clinicians, residents, Ph.D. students, master's students, staff members, staff scientists, or technicians—to be able to build these skill sets and become comfortable using technology they haven't engaged with previously. It's about building connections and collaborations that may ultimately lead to other projects in the future.
Office of Research Dedicates $50,000 to Early Research Endeavors on Campus
Ten faculty awarded Comparative Pathology and Genomics Shared Resource voucher program grants
The Office of Research at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University initiated a $50,000 voucher program for faculty researchers to collect pilot data utilizing the advanced technologies and specialized expertise of Cummings School’s Comparative Pathology and Genomics Shared Resource (CPGSR). In rapid turnaround time, the program launched this past spring with 10 grants awarded to faculty and all projects already underway at CPGSR.
“The program allows people to get pilot data to support research proposals in the future. Especially these days, having that preliminary data is so important, but it’s hard if you don't have the money to do that upfront,” says Dr. Heather Gardner, Usen Family Career Development Professor and assistant professor in the Departments of Small Animal Clinical Sciences and Comparative Pathobiology at Cummings School, and part of the scientific advisory committee for the CPGSR.
Towards the end of the fiscal year this spring, $50,000 from the Office of Research had not yet been earmarked, so Dr. Cheryl London, V90, associate dean for research and Anne Engen and Dusty Professor in Comparative Oncology at Cummings School, worked with Gardner to develop a plan for use of the funds that could help Cummings School faculty.
“Given the more challenging funding climate we've experienced this past year, I suggested that we could potentially use that money for vouchers to support researchers on campus to generate pilot data. That led to the voucher program,” says Gardner.
In just two months, the pilot program went from conception to active research in the CPGSR. With support from CPGSR staff, the pilot program was rapidly conceived, and Cummings School faculty could apply for up to $5,000 in support for generating data using CPGSR resources. Faculty from across research areas submitted proposals that ranged from pathology to genomic studies, including details on how the data generated would accelerate their work. A total of 10 proposals were submitted, and all were able to be funded, allowing the program to have maximal impact.
“It's exciting to see people engaging and to be able to help provide a solution for our research community,” says Gardner. “The CPGSR has significantly expanded the range of scientific capabilities on the Cummings School campus over the past five years. It is great to see our faculty begin to use these resources and to support the wide array of research that takes place here, from cancer to infectious disease and beyond.”
The CPGSR supports biomedical research conducted by Cummings School faculty, staff, and students, in addition to outside researchers, with the capabilities to assess and improve animal models of disease. The CPGSR offers detailed characterizations of animal models across species and research areas, with services including histopathology, DNA and RNA sequencing, and spatial “-omics” assays, among many other techniques. The CPGSR is also unique as it often works with samples from a variety of species, such as guinea pigs, horses, dogs, and humans, among others.
What distinguishes the CPGSR is the team’s specialized expertise to tailor assays to investigators’ individual research needs, including customizing assays by species that may not have been previously validated. The staff leverages the lab’s advanced technologies in innovative ways to propel research forward.
“We like working through non-standard problems with researchers because a lot of what people do on this campus is not your standard human and mouse research. ‘What can I do with this assay? How can I make this work on my samples?’ By bringing together that knowledge and the technology on this campus, it's providing a niche to help accelerate that kind of work,” says Gardner.
For example, immunohistochemistry is the standard assay to test an antibody on a tissue sample to determine if it binds with the protein of interest. An antibody’s reaction can vary across species, so research often must begin with validation studies to identify an antibody that will bind to the specified protein in the species being studied.
The CPGSR team can customize assays to optimize antibodies on the histology side and, in the genomic space, generate custom panels for different species through sequencing. From her own research, Gardner has designed custom dog sequencing panels to run specific types of liquid biopsy assays for single-cell sequencing, DNA sequencing, and methylation sequencing.
CPGSR staff who complete assays for researchers include Katelin Murphy, histotechnician on the comparative pathology side; Alaina Henderson, senior research associate and manager of the CPGSR genomics lab; and Sree Harsha Zenitha Vadakattu, research assistant and genomics technician. While the CPGSR team conducts assays for researchers, they also train faculty, staff, and students on the lab’s technologies.
“The benefit of having the Shared Resource on campus is to be able to empower researchers—whether they are clinicians, residents, Ph.D. students, master's students, staff members, staff scientists, or technicians—to be able to build these skill sets and become comfortable using technology they haven't engaged with previously,” says Gardner. “It's about building connections and collaborations that may ultimately lead to other projects in the future.”
Department:
Dept. of Comparative Pathobiology