Mwangi selected as Marty Vanier and Bob Krause BRI Research Fellow

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Biosecurity Research Institute at Kansas State University has selected Waithaka Mwangi, immunology professor, as a fellow in the 2023 Marty Vanier and Bob Krause BRI Research Fellows Program.

Mwangi has been with the K-State Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology since 2016 and has more than 25 years of experience working on vaccine design and antigen delivery platforms in large outbred animal species.

Fourteen faculty members from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and K-State's colleges of Agriculture, Engineering and Veterinary Medicine have previously been named as fellows. The program was established in 2015. BRI Fellows meet regularly to discuss their research, emerging pathogens and One Health issues, funding opportunities that might be collaboratively pursued, and advice to support the continued success of the BRI.

"Dr. Mwangi brings a wealth of experience to the BRI Fellows and will enrich the discussions and expand future opportunities," said James Stack, professor of plant pathology and leader of the BRI Fellows.

Funding for the BRI Fellows Program was sponsored through an endowed gift from Marty Vanier and Bob Krause, who donated $10 million to support the BRI in 2013.

Employed in the College of Veterinary Medicine, Mwangi's research program seeks to develop prototype subunit vaccines. Safety, immunogenicity and protective efficacy of the vaccines are evaluated in the actual hosts, such as cattle and pigs. Other areas of interest include development of DIVA-compatible subunit vaccines for African swine fever virus, bovine viral diarrhea virus, bovine parainfluenza-3 virus, live-vectored SARS-Co-V-2 and Japanese encephalitis virus.

Mwangi's collaborative research is focused on the development of therapeutics against targets such as HIV and SARS-CoV-2 using novel cow antibodies — designated bovine ultralong CDR H3 structures — whose structure and mechanism for creating diversity have not been seen before in other animals' antibodies.

Mwangi earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and parasitology from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, in 1990. He completed a doctorate in 2002 and postdoctoral training in immunology in 2004, both at Washington State University.

 

Marty Vanier and Bob Krause BRI Research Fellows

The Marty Vanier and Bob Krause BRI Research Fellows Program recognizes principal investigators with ongoing projects at the Biosecurity Research Institute. The program's purpose is to foster interdisciplinary research, educational opportunities, and activities associated with research the fellows are doing in areas such as high-consequence plant and animal diseases, foodborne disease agents, arthropod-borne diseases, and pathogens that can be passed from animals to humans. On April 29, 2016, the scientists pictured below were named Marty Vanier and Bob Krause BRI Research Fellows.

Front row: Raymond (Bob) Rowland, Dana Vanlandingham, Stephen Higgs, D. Scott McVey, Barbara Valent, Jishu Shi. Back row: Steven Eckels, William Wilson, Juergen Richt, William Bockus, James Stack, Kenneth Burton, Randy Phebus.

Marty Vanier and Bob Krause Biosecurity Research Institute Research Fellows

• Stephen Higgs, director of the Biosecurity Research Institute and associate vice president for research
• Waithaka Mwangi, professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology
• Megan Niederwerder, assistant professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology
• Randall K. Phebus, professor of animal sciences and industry
• Juergen A. Richt, regents distinguished professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology
• Jishu Shi, professor of anatomy and physiology
• James P. Stack, professor of plant pathology
• Barbara Valent, distinguished professor of plant pathology
• Dana L. Vanlandingham, associate professor of diagnostic medicine and pathobiology
• William C. Wilson, research leader, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, arthropod-borne animal diseases research, Center for Grain and Animal Health Research

BRI Research Fellows Lecture Series

A highlight of the BRI Research Fellows Program is an ongoing lecture series. Well-known and highly respected scientists who have achieved excellence in their field are invited to campus to present a seminar for the benefit of K-State students, faculty, and staff. To date, the following have been invited and presented lectures.

• "Fungicide Resistance in the Plant-associated Human Pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus" by Marin Talbot Brewer, Ph.D., William Terrell Distinguished Professor, Plant Pathology and Fungal Biology Group, University of Georgia. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Plant Pathology and the Marty Vanier and Bob Krause Biosecurity Research Institute Research Fellows Program. March 9, 2023.
  
  
• "L.A. Tropical Casebook - Exotic Blights in My Own Backyard" by Claire Panosian, M.D., professor emeritus/recalled, medicine-infectious diseases, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine and the Marty Vanier and Bob Krause Biosecurity Research Institute Research Fellows Program. September 29, 2018.
  
  
• "Induction and Suppression of the Interferon Response by Segmented Negative-Strand RNA Viruses" by Friedemann Weber, Ph.D., Director and Chair, Institute for Virology, Veterinary Medicine, Justus-Liebig University Giessen, Germany. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Marty Vanier and Bob Krause Biosecurity Research Institute Research Fellows Program. September 6, 2018.
  
  

• "Rickettsial Determinants for Arthropod Infection and Transmission" by Kevin R. Macaluso, Ph.D., associate professor, pathobiological sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana State University. Lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Entomology, Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases and the Marty Vanier and Bob Krause Biosecurity Research Institute Research Fellows Program. April 2018.

• "Arboviruses and Their Related Infections in China: a Comprehensive Field and Laboratory Investigation Over the Last Three Decades" by Guodong Liang, M.D, M.S., professor, Department of Viral Encephalitis and Arbovirus, National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China CDC, Beijing. September 2017.

• "Mosquito-borne Disease Surveillance: Can Technology Help Us Find the Needle in the Haystack?" by Scott A. Ritchie, Professor, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland. August 2017.

• "Insights into the Origin of Virulence from Model Organisms," by Arturo Casadevall, Chair of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, MD. April 2017.

• "Genomic Analysis to Characterize Disease Outbreaks: Studies from Anthrax, Plague and Cholera," by Paul Keim, executive director of the Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, Northern Arizona University. November 2016.