Research Project Information

Research Project Information

I. General Information:

One of the requirements of the MPVM Program is the completion of an applied epidemiology study which culminates in a written and oral report that is presented to MPVM students and faculty.

The intents of the project are to develop skills in the design and conduct of research and data analysis, and possibly to explore a new subject area. The study can be designed to uncover facts, or it can involve the development of an educational or disease control program. The research report must represent a careful and systematic study involving an epidemiologic topic. Over the years, research projects have focused on a variety of topics including diseases of livestock, poultry, wildlife, companion animals, zoonoses and food safety. Data previously obtained may be used in the formulation of this study; however, a data set that has been previously analyzed is not acceptable. If you plan to use a data set from a study that you have previously done, it must be reviewed and approved beforehand by your faculty adviser.

MPVM Quarterly Presentation Schedule

II. Finding a Project:

You are encouraged to bring with you data gathered during previous employment. Or, you may choose to work on a project that is provided by a faculty member at UC Davis. Profiles of veterinary school faculty are available on the web at http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/faculty/ - you can search faculty lists by name, department or academic focus. These faculty profiles will help identify faculty members who might have research projects in areas of interest to you. Specific projects that they are working on will not necessarily be listed, however.

A major source of help will be your MPVM Academic Adviser. The program Academic Advisers are Dr. Janet Foley, Dr. Gabriele Maier, and Dr. Carly Moody. 

III.  MPVM Project Advisers:

You must have two MPVM project advisers of whom one must be a faculty member in the MPVM program. It is possible that your MPVM Academic Adviser can also serve as one of your project advisers.

The Subject-matter adviser should be an expert in the topic of your project. For example, a project ”Risk factors for Campylobacter infection in slaughtered hens in Chechnya” could be either an expert in Campylobacter, or poultry slaughter. They do not necessarily need to be an MPVM faculty member nor, at times, even a UC-Davis faculty member. 

The MVPM faculty member will have much experience in design and analysis of MPVM projects. It is especially important to involve your MPVM adviser at the start of planning for your MPVM project.

Typically, you will sign up for a total of 8 units (credits) for your project – 4 units for each project adviser, divided among quarters. If one adviser is not a UCD faculty member, you will sign up for all 8 credits with the UCD faculty member. The CRN number for each faculty member’s 299 course is different from all other faculty members’ and changes every quarter. Obtain the CRN number from the faculty member’s departmental office.

IV. Example Timeline for MPVM Projects:

Summer session I: Consult Academic Adviser. Begin to find suitable project and subject-matter and quantitative advisers.

Fall quarter: Complete plans for project and possibly begin work on project. Take advantage of courses MPM 208 and MPM 209 (offered fall and winter quarters, respectively) to do literature review and begin writing up project. Collect data and/or collate and clean up data set in preparation for analysis.

Winter and spring quarters: Do data analysis and complete “Results” section.

May-June: Complete first draft of project.

July 1: Submit first draft of project to project advisers. Find out in advance when they will be available to review your drafts, and plan accordingly. Remember that three or more drafts are often necessary before your advisers are ready to sign off on (approve) your project, and you must allow at least two weeks for each reading.

Early August: Submit approved MPVM project to Eveline Gutierrez electronically at elgutierrez@ucdavis.edu.

V. Guidelines for typing and submitting MPVM projects:

1. Current information about submission deadlines can be found at https://mpvm.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/program-requirements/mpvm-quarterly-presentation-schedule.
2. A complete draft of your paper should be submitted to your advisers approximately two months before your presentation.  The corrected text including tables and figures should be submitted to your advisers for final corrections at least one month prior to your presentation. Your paper must be grammatically acceptable before your advisers approve it. In preparing the paper, follow the style and guidelines of a journal of your choice which accepts papers similar to yours. Remember this paper should be of publishable quality.
3. At least one month prior to the presentation, submit your project title and the names of your advisers to Eveline Gutierrez (elgutierrez@ucdavis.edu) and the Program Chair. 
4. Your paper should be typed, double-spaced with a 1-inch margin on the left and a 1-inch margin on the top, right and bottom of the page (the 1-inch left margin is necessary in order to bind the project). The version that you submit for outside review should have line numbers and page numbers.  
5. Two weeks before presentations, please submit an electronic copy of your research report, abstract, and signed title page (sample of abstract and title page form below) to Eveline Gutierrez and the Program Chair. The title page must be signed by your two project advisers before submission. A copy of all abstracts will be provided to everyone at the presentation. We MUST have your paper in by the deadline in order to allow time for it to be read by a third reviewer (who is assigned by the MPVM Program Chair and to whom the Program Chair will send your manuscript), prior to your oral presentation. We suggest that you also provide your two advisers with a copy of your paper.
6. The third reader will review the MPVM project as any reviewer would review a manuscript submitted for publication in a scientific journal. They will share their comments with you before the MPVM project presentation date. In consultation with your two project advisers, you will then decide what to change in the presentation and manuscript and rebut the third reader's comments. Ideally, the third reader will also be present at the oral presentations to ask questions during the discussion session for your paper.
7. When your paper is completely finalized (i.e., after you have made all corrections and changes requested by the third reviewer), in consultation with your two project advisers, you will send your final paper along with your rebuttal letter to Eveline Gutierrez and the Program Chair. This must be done at least two days before the Graduate Studies filing deadline.  
8. Examples of a Title Page and Abstract are provided below in the next section.

VI.  Oral Presentation of MPVM Projects

1. Four oral presentation dates are scheduled each year:
   a. The first part of September, two weeks prior to start of Fall quarter.
   b. The last Friday of instruction for Fall Quarter.
   c. The last Friday of instruction for Winter Quarter.
   c. The last Friday of instruction for Spring Quarter.
2. Format for presentations is similar to that of international scientific meetings. Each presentation is allocated a total of 15 minutes: 12 minutes for presentation of the project and 3 minutes for discussion.
3. Most presentations are in PowerPoint. Be sure to review with your advisers the tables, graphs, etc. that you select, and include only those necessary to effectively communicate your message. Be especially careful that tables and figures do not include too much information and that they can be read from the back of the room.
4. As presentations last no longer than 12 minutes, it would be helpful to have a mock presentation with both advisers well in advance of the presentation date,  allowing sufficient time to make any suggested changes in your presentation.
5. Review the MPVM Presentations Procedures for additional guidance.

Objective – To evaluate whether non – T. foetus trichomonads are pathogenic to cattle.

Design – Randomized experimental trial.

Animals – 44 virgin beef heifers.

Procedure – Heifers were placed into one of four groups and intravaginally inoculated with either T. foetus (n=8), Pentatrichomonas hominis (n=14), Tetratrichomonas sp. (n=14), or media control (n=8).  Cervical vaginal mucus (CVM) was cultured weekly in a commercially prepared media and assayed with an ELISA for anti-trichomonad IgA antibodies.  Blood samples were taken from each heifer, and a hemolytic assay (HA) for antibodies to T. foetus was performed on these samples from weeks 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8.  Histopathology was performed on all layers of vaginal and uterine tissue to evaluate overall inflammation and cell types involved.

Results – Of the four groups, only T. foetus-inoculated heifers had persistently positive culture results.  Additionally, vaginal and uterine mucosal inflammation scores were worse for T. foetus infected heifers than controls.  All trichomonads were found to incite a serosal eosinophilic response. Tissues from heifers inoculated with Pentatrichomonas and Tetratrichomonas were not significantly different (p > 0.20) from media control heifers.

Conclusions and Clinical Relevance – Given that trichomonosis is a disease wherein long term presence of the etiologic agent is associated with tissue-damaging host responses, the failure of non-T. foetustrichomonads to colonize and persist in the female genital tract strongly suggests that they do not contribute to a trichomonosis-like disease syndrome.