Dr. Pedersen is the director of the Center for Companion Animal Health and the Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. Both units have the financial resources, laboratories, technical support, and faculty mentors to support STAR students in summer research programs. The CCAH projects involve mainly around feline infectious diseases, such as feline infectious peritonitis, feline calicivirus, and feline herpes viruse infections. The CCAH also has an active field research program in shelter medicine that involves infections of importance to both cats and dogs placed in these environments and husbandry practices that either enhance or diminish the types and severity of infections that occur in such environments.
The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory is the largest veterinary genetic service labortory in the world and runs about 200,000 individual genetic tests each year. While most testing involves parentage of horses, the VGL is actively engaged in research in wildlife, dogs, cats, cattle, horses, primates, mice, and other species, and has an internationally recognized veterinary forensic unit. This research involves coat color determinants, identification of causes of specific genetic disorders and development of appropriate tests, blood group genetics, genetic diversity, ecology, and species origin and diversity.
Students interested in any of these areas should contact Dr. Pedersen via e-mailing ncpedersen@ucdavis.edu or calling (530) 752-7402 to discuss student interests and whether or not either the CCAH or VGL have projects and faculty mentors that can provide a meaningul summer's research experience.