Author Archives: gabacat

This summer, the Biddle Lab had the absolute pleasure of having six outstanding undergraduate students who dedicated their summer break to amazing research! They worked hard and had the opportunity to present their research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium at the University of Delaware on August 12th, 2021.

Below are their final summer presentations:

Kasey Hobert: Comparing the Equine Protozoa Community Based on Keeper Status

Allie Baiungo: Are there differences in cyathostomin population caused by climate factors in the US? 

Nate Hunsinger: Chronic Kidney Disease Modeling Project

Brenna Tento and Ayiana James: Measurement of Anthelmintic Susceptibility in Cyathostomin Larval Populations From Horses

David Vega: Protocol optimization to sequence single protozoa cells 

Once again, congratulations on all your hard work!

From July 14th-17th, Dr. Amy Biddle and PhD student Alexa Johnson had the honor and opportunity of going to the 2021 ASAS-CSAS-SSASAS Annual Meeting & Trade Show in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Biddle gave a presentation titled: “The Equine Microbiome: How Does Our Understanding of the Microbiome Impact the Nutrient Requirements of the Horse?” Alexa presented her research titled: “Do the microbiomes of horses process nutrients differently based on keeper status?” Congratulations to both on their hard research and representing the University of Delaware’s Department of Animal and Food Sciences!

PhD student, Alexa Johnson, continues to make strides in her research with the addition of her two published papers. Take a look below to see all of her hard work!

Johnson, Alexa C.B.; Biddle, Amy S. 2021. “The Use of Molecular Profiling to Track Equine Reinfection Rates of Cyathostomin Species Following Anthelmintic Administration” Animals 11, no. 5: 1345. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051345

Johnson, Alexa C.B., and Amy S. Biddle 2021. “A Standard Scale to Measure Equine Keeper Status and the Effect of Metabolic Tendency on Gut Microbiome Structure” Animals 11, no. 7: 1975. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11071975

After a recent redesign, Worrilow Hall opened its doors back up for students and staff in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) to continue teaching and research. The new building features reconfigured learning rooms, updates labs and increased space for graduate students as well as expanded collaborative space for undergrad students. Additional spaces include lunch break rooms, lounge areas and conference room areas for students to comfortably and confidently study and continue with their research.

Access to the building and certain lab spaces require a valid UD ONEcard and traditional key access. Eating and drinking are prohibited in laboratories and only authorized personnel are permitted in research and shared equipment labs.

Take a look at our virtual tour of the building and lab spaces below!

Congratulations to Alexa Johnson, a Ph.D student in the Biddle lab, for having two abstracts being accepted at the 2021 Equine Science Society Virtual Symposium.

The abstracts accepted are titled: “Development of the Equine Keeper Status Scale” in the Production and Management section as a Poster Presentation and “Evaluation of the microbiome effects of easy and hard keeper horses with the application of the Equine Keeper Status Scale” in the Equine Biosciences section as a 15 minute oral presentation.

The Equine Science Society Virtual Symposium will be held June 1-4, 2021.

Lack of Association Between Barometric Pressure and Incidence of Colic in Equine Academic Ambulatory Practice 

Click the link below to check out a research article that was published by Amy S. Biddle, Justine Cianci, Ashley G. Boyle and Darko Stefanovski. This study determines an effect on the likelihood of colic diagnosis in the ambulatory setting based off of the changes in barometric pressure measurements.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jevs.2020.103342