Mobility experience with a research focus
PhD sandwich
Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences
1. Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia (IMHA) is a disease affecting both dogs and cats (1). IMHA is rarely reported as cause of anemia (10%) in cats (2) and is mainly a non-regenerative anemia (NR-IMHA) (3). Unfortunately, the diagnosis might be tough since the reasons behind this condition remain almost undetermined. Nowadays, therapeutic protocols have not been clearly defined to treat IMHA in cat and few data are present for the outcome of these patients. Therefore, the main aims of the project are: (a) evaluating the epidemiology of IMHA in cats, especially NR-IMHA; (b) describing the clinical and clinical-pathological abnormalities in NR-IMHA cats treated with immunosuppressive therapy; and (c) assessing the short- and long-term prognosis and the frequency of recurrence.
2. Leishmaniasis is a zoonotic disease caused by the protozoa Leishmania spp. Canine leishmaniasis (CL) is widespread in Italy, where the main reservoir seems to be the domestic dog, and it represents one of the most neglected endemic human diseases in several nations, according to the World Health Organization. The phenomenon of resistance to anti-Leishmania drugs (i.e., Antileishmanial Drug Resistance, Anti-LeishDR) is well known in human medicine, where therapeutic failures have been reported up to 59% with some of the principal molecules used worldwide. Anti-LeishDR is only partially known in veterinary medicine. In the past decade, the spreading use of next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques has made possible to highlight several genomic variants of Leishmania spp. related to Anti-LeishDR. Although hypotheses have been advanced to explain the mechanism responsible for Anti-LeishDR, it has not been fully clarified. Thus, the aims of this study are to: (a) evaluate the phenomenon of Anti-LeishDR in Italian dogs with CL; (b) to assess the anti-LeishDR in dogs with CL, evaluating the therapeutic response and the frequency of disease recurrence; (c) describe the epidemiology of the CL phenomenon in the canine population involved.
The activities of both these projects (1 and 2) include: physical examination, define the diagnosis, setting up and monitoring the specific therapies of the animals enrolled in those studies; execution of clinicopathological analyses (e.g., complete blood count, serum chemistry, urinalysis and cytology); execution of infectious agent analyses (e.g., polymerase chain reaction, indirect immunofluorescence).
(1) Garden OA, et al. ACVIM consensus statement on the diagnosis of immune-mediated hemolytic anemia in dogs and cats. J Vet Intern Med. 2019 Mar;33(2):313-334.
(2) Korman, R. M., Hetzel, N., Knowles, T. G., Harvey, A. M., & Tasker, S. (2013). A retrospective study of 180 anaemic cats: features, aetiologies and survival data. Journal of feline medicine and surgery, 15(2), 81-90.
(3) Swann JW, Szladovits B, Glanemann B. Demographic Characteristics, Survival and Prognostic Factors for Mortality in Cats with Primary Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia. J Vet Intern Med. 2016 Jan-Feb;30(1):147-56.
Laboratory experience (if the researcher is interested in those specific fields)
PhD sandwich: 2-6