Research at Cummings School

Cummings School is extremely proud of the achievements and ongoing work of the faculty, staff and students performing research on our campus and internationally.

Research News

Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University is extremely proud of the achievements and ongoing work of the faculty, staff and students performing research on our campus and internationally with investigators from other universities, teaching hospitals and industry. Our projects are producing advances that are improving the health of domestic and wild animals, people, the environment and the food we consume.

A World Without Rinderpest

Cummings School’s Jeffrey Mariner, who played a key role in eradicating the devastating cattle plague from the wild, weighs in on an effort to destroy laboratory samples of the virus

Microbiome sampling pill in the small intestine

3D printed pill samples gut microbiome to aid diagnosis and treatment

The pill is the first known working device capable of non-invasively and accurately assessing the profile of bacterial species inhabiting any stage of the gastrointestinal tract

deer tick being held by a tweezer in a white dish

Lyme Bacterium Predates the U.S. Lab That Conspiracy Theorists Say Unleashed Ticks on Public

As Congress orders an investigation of whether the Pentagon is to blame for the Lyme disease epidemic, a Cummings School expert explains why that’s a waste of public time and money

Giraffes Under Parasitic Attack?

Researchers study a skin disease spreading in wild giraffes to understand its cause and the potential threat to these endangered animals

Dr. Gillian Beamer, faculty member in the Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health at Cummings School in the lab

It May Be Possible to Predict How TB Will Affect Each Patient

If a Cummings School scientist can unlock why tuberculosis affects individuals so differently, she can point the way to more personalized treatments Tuberculosis is the Jekyll and Hyde of infectious disease. It infects a quarter of the world’s people, according to the World Health Organization, but at least 90 percent of them never develop clinical Read More

An Ebola health worker seen at a treatment centre in Beni, Eastern Congo

Battling Ebola in Congo

A Cummings School expert in global health shares what’s working in the latest outbreak—and what needs to change

Theresa McGowan's five chickens roam the open area outside of their enclosure on the far side of the back yard of her Somerville home

A Chicken and Egg Problem

Urban dwellers looking to raise backyard chickens must take precautions to prevent lead exposure.

Tufts University, Tufts Medical Center launch center for study of antimicrobial resistance

Center for Integrated Management of Antimicrobial Resistance to leverage strengths of the university and medical center to research mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance and develop new strategies for treatment and education Tufts University and Tufts Medical Center unite decades of experience and expertise in infectious disease research and clinical care with the Tufts Center for Integrated Read More

Five Things You Didn’t Know about Groundhogs

Chris Whittier, V97, research assistant professor of conservation medicine at Cummings School, shares the dirt on these important enormous, whistling, burrowing squirrels While many Americans would recognize famed Punxsutawney Phil as a groundhog, they may not know much else about the species. As Groundhog Day approaches on February 2, let’s take a minute to consider Read More