Presentation Title

Using Serum Blood Proteome Profiles to Detect the Health and Wellbeing of the Calf

Presenter's Name(s)

Vidharshi Dharmasena, UVMFollow

Abstract

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the principal cause of death in weaned dairy calves. Proteomic technology in veterinary medicine could provide valuable insight into finding calves that are more resistant to BRD than other calves. Serum samples will be collected from 18 weaned heifer calves that have been moved to group housing from individual housing within the last 10 days. Samples will be collected when the calves are 8-9 weeks old and then 4 weeks later. Their health status will be assessed using a physical exam and the BRD Scoring Scale (1-5 scale; anything above a 3 is considered treatable) at both time points. Calves that score a 3 and above will be considered part of the “sick” group. Calves that are healthy at the second time point, but were treated for BRD between both time points will be considered part of the “sick” group. All the calves that do not have BRD and were not treated for it will be considered part of the “healthy group”. The serum samples will be analyzed using MS-LC proteomic technology to quantify specific protein concentrations within the serum. The protein concentrations of the first set of serum samples will be compared against the second set of serum samples. The differences will also be compared between the sick calves and the healthy calves. We expect there will most likely be a difference between specific protein concentrations between the calves’ serum protein profiles at 8-9 weeks and then the profiles 4 weeks later. By finding specific protein concentrations of each calf, differences between the age and health groups will be able to be seen.

Primary Faculty Mentor Name

Julie Smith

Status

Undergraduate

Student College

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Second Student College

Honors College

Program/Major

Animal Science

Primary Research Category

Biological Sciences

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Using Serum Blood Proteome Profiles to Detect the Health and Wellbeing of the Calf

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the principal cause of death in weaned dairy calves. Proteomic technology in veterinary medicine could provide valuable insight into finding calves that are more resistant to BRD than other calves. Serum samples will be collected from 18 weaned heifer calves that have been moved to group housing from individual housing within the last 10 days. Samples will be collected when the calves are 8-9 weeks old and then 4 weeks later. Their health status will be assessed using a physical exam and the BRD Scoring Scale (1-5 scale; anything above a 3 is considered treatable) at both time points. Calves that score a 3 and above will be considered part of the “sick” group. Calves that are healthy at the second time point, but were treated for BRD between both time points will be considered part of the “sick” group. All the calves that do not have BRD and were not treated for it will be considered part of the “healthy group”. The serum samples will be analyzed using MS-LC proteomic technology to quantify specific protein concentrations within the serum. The protein concentrations of the first set of serum samples will be compared against the second set of serum samples. The differences will also be compared between the sick calves and the healthy calves. We expect there will most likely be a difference between specific protein concentrations between the calves’ serum protein profiles at 8-9 weeks and then the profiles 4 weeks later. By finding specific protein concentrations of each calf, differences between the age and health groups will be able to be seen.