By Angel Abuelo

Exciting news in the Abuelo Lab! We can now announce that the lab has received one of the very competitive "National Needs Fellows" training grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Through the grant "Strengthening Dairy Health Through Multidisciplinary Doctoral Training of Veterinary Scientists", the lab will train 3 Ph.D. scientists in the next 5 years to enhance dairy health biosecurity through the optimization of immunity.

This is a great opportunity to work with us and our many collaborators worldwide. Due to the conditions of the grant, this opportunity is only open to US citizens or permanent residents (no exceptions are allowed). If you are interested in our work, please contact us!

The Abuelo lab would like to welcome Rafael Castro Vargas to our lab this semester! Rafael is a veterinarian originally from Colombia and initially joined our lab as a visiting scholar in September 2022. Yesterday Rafael was officially accepted in the Comparative Medicine and Integrative Biology graduate program! Rafael has previous experience conducting important research for the food animal industry including but not limited to his work with Staph. aureus. Rafael’s proficiency with veterinary medicine and research will make him a tremendous asset to the lab. Rafael will be working on our  Salmonella enterica serotype Dublin projects. Rafael will produce vaccination recommendations that dairy producers can immediately implement, making his project critically important for the health and welfare of dairy calves.
 
Despite only having recently arrived in Michigan, Rafael has already been participating in classes and started screening animals for enrollment on his project. We are so excited to have Rafael join the lab and cannot wait to see the important contributions that he makes to the dairy industry. Welcome to the lab Rafael!

 Arpita is an exceptional student who in her first semester has a full course load, taken charge of her project, and presented at national conferences. We are very excited for Arpita’s award and cannot wait to see what important work she continues to produce throughout her PhD.

The Abuelo Lab recently enjoyed the spring weather by attending a Lansing Lugnuts baseball game. We fueled up with good barbecue and laughs at Smokey Bones before heading downtown. As we sat right behind the home team dugout, we cheered on the Lugnuts and dodged foul balls. By the 5th inning we were ready for a concession stand run where we got iced cold drinks and salty pretzels. After enjoying our refreshments, the crowd’s voices filled the stadium with the famous 7th inning stretch song.
 
" Take me out to the ball game (Take me out to the ball game),
 
Take me out of the lab (Take me out with the crowd).

Buy me some reagents and pipettes (Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack), 
 
I don't care if I never get back (I don't care if I never get back),
 
Let me root, root, root for the Abuelo lab (Let me root, root, root for the home team), 
 
If they don't get funded it's a shame (If they don't win it's a shame). 
 
For it's p, less than, point oh five (For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out), 
 
For sig-nif-i-cance (At the old ball game).”  - Katy Kesler
 

As we watched the beautiful sunset, the Lansing Lugnuts hit a grand slam for the win!