Internal Medicine
Monica Aleman
Department of Medicine & Epidemiology; VMTH: Large Animal Clinic (see also: Genetics, Neurology)
Dr. Monica Aleman obtained her veterinary degree at the University UNAM-Mexico. She completed residencies in large animal internal medicine (equine emphasis) and neurology and neurosurgery at UC Davis; and achieved board certification for both specialties by the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. She completed a PhD in comparative pathology of neuromuscular diseases at UC Davis. Her research and clinical interest has focused in neurology, neuromuscular and muscle disorders in all species with equine emphasis. Currently, she is a faculty member of the equine internal medicine and neurology services, and Director of the Neuromuscular Disease Laboratory at UC Davis. Dr. Aleman is one of the founding members of the Comparative Neurology Research Group, and is affiliated with the Clinical Neurophysiology Laboratory at UC Davis. Dr. Aleman is author of over 90 peer reviewed medical publications, over 100 proceedings and abstracts, and over 25 book chapters; and is a regular speaker in national and international meetings. Currently, she works in the investigation of neuromuscular disorders in multiple species including humans.
For more information, please contact Dr. Aleman at mraleman@ucdavis.edu or visit her faculty profile page.
Andrea J. Fascetti, VMD, PhD, DACVIM (SAIM), DACVN
Veterinary Medicine Molecular Biology
My research focuses on omnivore nutrition, in particular dogs and cats. I enjoy evaluating problems on both a clinical and basic level, and many of our findings are immediately applicable to the nutritional management of dogs and cats. My current research interests are trace mineral and amino acid metabolism, obesity, carnivore nutrition, nutritional idiosyncrasies of the cat, improvement of pet foods and clinical nutrition. I am the Scientific Director of both Feline Research Laboratories and the Amino Acid Laboratory.
Through the Amino Acid Laboratory, we have analyzed thousands of whole blood and plasma samples from dogs eating grain-free diets suspected of developing dilated cardiomyopathy. Detractors of this condition claim that it is a breed related problem, and in some breeds that may be the case. That said, we saw numerous mixed breed dogs with this condition. The other observation from our laboratory was that there was a preponderance of dogs eating grain-free diets developing cystine stones. This investigator believes the sudden increase in cystine stones may be caused by the grain-free diets. Once awareness of the association of taurine deficiency and grain-free diets was on the rise, I suspected that companies were increasing the amount of methionine and cystine in their foods, resulting in higher rates of cystine loss in the urine and the development of cystine stones. We propose to review the thousands of data points we have collected and test the hypotheses regarding the relationship of grain-free diets and breed of dog, as well as the occurrence of cystine stones in dogs eating grain-free diets. Note that students will not only get experience in working with data in a retrospective format, but also will have the opportunity to work in the Amino Acid Laboratory under the direction of our lead technician.
I can be reached via email at ajfascetti@ucdavis.edu.
Ching-Hsien (Jean) Chen, PhD
SOM: Nephrology/Internal Medicine (See also: Biochemistry/Cell Biology, Oncology)
Dr. Chen’s research strives to elucidate the molecular mechanisms underlying cancer malignancy and thereby identify useful biomarkers and/or druggable targets. She seeks to develop peptide-based therapeutics to mitigate cancer metastasis and drug resistance by targeting aberrant oncogenic signaling. Research in her laboratory focuses on how the phospholipids such as PIP2 and PIP3 are regulated during the development of malignancies and inflammatory diseases.
Potential summer research projects: 1) examine the feasibility of phospholipid retention strategies for cancer immunotherapy. This project will use genetic manipulations and pharmacological approaches to elucidate mechanisms of tumor immune evasion and develop targeted therapies for increasing the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors; 2) characterize the mechanisms of cancer stemness in order to discover therapeutic targets for combating cancer progression and overcoming drug resistance. This study will help the development of novel treatments that destroy cancer stem-like cells without adversely affecting self-renewal of normal stem cells.
Please visit Dr. Chen's website for more information.
Meera Heller DVM, PhD, DACVIM
VM: Medicine & Epidemiology
(See also: Immunology/Infectious Disease, Food Animal Medicine & Food Safety)
I’m an Assistant Professor of Clinical Livestock Medicine and Surgery (C barn). My research interests lie in the area of immunology and infectious disease, specifically in the areas of innate immune response and juvenile immunity. My research goals are to improve prevention and treatment of calfhood disease, or disease in neonates of any species. My clinical expertise is in internal medicine and surgery of ruminants and swine, and I have a special interest in cattle and goats. Potential research projects include bench-top projects working with bovine bacterial pathogens in the lab, field research on a novel approach to prevention pink eye in cattle, field research to document a vector borne disease in goat populations in northern California, and clinically important retrospective studies using the VMACS database. I am also open to project ideas from students, and am happy to help you craft a research question that fits your interests.
Please contact Dr. Heller via email at mcheller@ucdavis.edu.
Krystle Reagan
VM: Medicine & Epidemiology
(see also: Immunology and Infectious Diseases)
Dr. Reagan is a small animal internal medicine specialist with a focus in infectious diseases and a 50% clinical appointment in the VMTH. Her laboratory research focus includes:
- Development and validation of infectious disease diagnostics
- Integration of artificial intelligence into clinical decision making
- Translation of novel therapeutics into clinical trials
Current projects include:
- Development of CRISPR based molecular tools for detection of viral pathogens
- Use of next generation sequencing for detection of bacterial infections
- Validation of artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms for the prediction of diagnosis and patient outcome
Please feel free to reach out at kreagan@ucdavis.edu to discuss possible STAR projects.