Veterinary Pathobiology (VPTH)
VPTH 5500 One Health Study Design Seminar
This seminar course will introduce students to One Health approaches that address critical local, regional and global health problems. Students will work in interdisciplinary teams to review case studies and analyze past and current literature where One Health approaches have been applied. The course is specifically designed to foster the development of skills that allow students to think and communicate across professional disciplines. It will also help students develop transdisciplinary connections that might serve them in their professional futures. Students will be assigned a transdisciplinary team. Grading will be based on team-led presentations and analysis of literature, participation in discussion, and a final capstone project (One Health in Practice Plan) in the form of both a paper and presentation.
Also Offered As: VPTH 6500
6 Credit Hours
VPTH 6320 Humans, Animals, and the Environment: An Interdisciplinary One Health Seminar Course
This introductory course is intended to provide students with a foundation in topics relevant to human, animal, environmental health, and the interactions between the three. The course will provide students with an overview of the concept of One Health, with the goal of understanding how human, animal, and environmental well-being are interconnected. This course is open to students in any graduate program and will provide the opportunity to work collaboratively and form connections across disciplines. Each week will consist of both didactic lectures from professionals across various fields and small group discussions among peers. Topics discussed may include, but are not limited to: climate change and health, sustainable design, political ecology, interspecies relationships, sustainable business, antimicrobial resistance, urban planning, zoonotic disease, research methods in One Health, and biodiversity. These topics will be explored by lecturers with diverse fields of expertise, including human medicine, veterinary medicine, design, social policy and practice, business, anthropology, and environmental sciences. Please note this course currency equivalency: 6 CR = 1 CU
Mutually Exclusive: PUBH 5320
6 Credit Hours
VPTH 6340 Microbial Pathogenesis
The goal of this course is to provide the student with a conceptual framework regarding the mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis. A range of host-microbe interactions will be studied to illustrate how different microbes breach host lines of defense and lead to infections. Transmission, etiological diagnosis, as well as prophylactic and therapeutic approaches against infectious agents will be discussed with examples related to viral and bacterial pathogens, including zoonotic and Category A select agents.
2 Credit Hours
VPTH 6350 Introduction to Fish Diseases
This course is intended to introduce veterinary students to the biology and medicine of teleost fish. The first few lectures will provide a foundation in the classification, gross anatomy and immunology of fish, including practical laboratory classes. The remainder of the course will be more clinically oriented, and will present the most prevalent diseases of fish, emphasizing both the pathology and etiology of the diseases. In addition, the course will also focus on health maintenance through the control of water quality and treatment of diseases in fish. This part of the course will include some practical laboratory demonstrations. Grades will be determined on the basis of class participation and a 5-6 page research paper on a topic of the students choice.
2 Credit Hours
VPTH 6360 Rodent Welfare in Biomedical Research
Investigations of disease and therapeutics continue to necessitate modeling in comparative animal species to advance scientific knowledge for animals and humans alike. Rodents, particularly mice and rats, are the predominant species in which preliminary assessments are made, and as such, their welfare throughout experimental phases is a priority. It is necessary to balance regulatory requirements for working with animals against scientific objectives, while considering the experience of animals with respect to environmental impacts, behavior, clinical health, diagnostic interventions and humane endpoints. This course will review aspects of oversight of research rodent species and apply aspects of the 3 Realms and federal regulations (the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals) in consideration of sustainable and refined animal welfare. The overarching welfare goal for rodents used in biomedical research is to improve their functioning, feelings and natural behaviors in ways that promise to bolster data outcomes and advance translational applications. Prerequisites: Open to any student accepted for enrollment in the Animal Welfare Master's program; preference for those with a research background or interest.
6 Credit Hours
VPTH 6370 Capstone Proseminar in Animal Welfare and Behavior
This semester long (6 credit) online course for students enrolled in the MSc in Animal Welfare and Behavior is designed to guide students in their development of their capstone Master's project. It will provide students with the skills to refine and communicate their research questions and goals, engage in scholarly discussion in an interdisciplinary setting and the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of cutting edge research in their area of interest. Through structured synchronous meetings with mentors and peers and opportunities to attend virtual seminars across campuses, the Proseminar course also exposes students to a network of future mentors and colleagues who may play important roles in their career development. The course culminates in a written proposal describing a research question and hypothesis with a scholarly introduction to the topic and an annotated bibliography.
6 Credit Hours
VPTH 6410 Laboratory Animal Medicine
This course is encouraged as a prerequisite for VPTH 789 ULAR - Laboratory Animal Medicine Clinical Service. This course is designed to provide further information about laboratory animal medicine to those students with a potential interest in the field. Animal models, anesthesia and analgesia, husbandry, regulatory oversight, and procedures involving species commonly used in research are discussed. Students will also be introduced to the mechanism of an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Grades will be determined by class participation, assigned online trainings and a short essay relevant to laboratory animal medicine.
2 Credit Hours
VPTH 6500 One Health Study Design Seminar
This seminar course will introduce students to One Health approaches that address critical local, regional and global health problems. Students will work in interdisciplinary teams to review case studies and analyze past and current literature where One Health approaches have been applied. The course is specifically designed to foster the development of skills that allow students to think and communicate across professional disciplines. It will also help students develop transdisciplinary connections that might serve them in their professional futures. Students will be assigned a transdisciplinary team. Grading will be based on team-led presentations and analysis of literature, participation in discussion, and a final capstone project (One Health in Practice Plan) in the form of both a paper and presentation.
Also Offered As: VPTH 5500
6 Credit Hours
VPTH 7005 Diagnostic Services
This rotation consists of exposure to the Diagnostic Services of MUR-VHUP and this provided by the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System (PADLS) at New Bolton Center - namely clinical pathology, anatomic pathology (necropsy service), parasitology, and microbiology. The rotation is focused on development of clinical pathology and necropsy skills and will include a practicum of necropsy technique. A portion of the rotation is also focused on biopsy, parasitology and microbiology.
9 Credit Hours
VPTH 7185 Poultry Production Medicine-NBC
This course is designed to provide students with a working knowledge of the management and production of poultry from hatchery to processing. The course will involve multiple field trips to a hatchery, grow out pullet house, layer house, breeder house, processing plant and a feed mill. There will also conduct necropsies on cases submitted to the diagnostic laboratory and learn the diagnostic procedures such as serology, virology and PCR testing.
8 Credit Hours
VPTH 7805 Poultry Production Medicine-NBC
This course is designed to provide students with a working knowledge of the management and production of poultry from hatchery to processing. The course will involve multiple field trips to a hatchery, grow out pullet house, layer house, breeder house, processing plant and a feed mill. There will also conduct necropsies on cases submitted to the diagnostic laboratory and learn the diagnostic procedures such as serology, virology and PCR testing.
8 Credit Hours
VPTH 7895 Lab Animal/Comparative Medicine
This rotation will provide an opportunity to work with the wide variety of animal species used in biomedical research at the University of Pennsylvania, including nonhuman primates, small rodents, guinea pigs, rabbits, dogs, cats, pigs, and sheep. The students will participate in all aspects of the care and treatment of these animals across the facilities at the University of Pennsylvania. Participation may include handling, husbandry, diagnosis, treatment, anesthesia, and assistance with surgery. Students will perform daily rounds with the clinical veterinarians and other staff members. The student may have the opportunity to observe on-going interdisciplinary research programs including cardiopulmonary bypass, organ transplantation, gene therapy, device implantations, and metabolic disease progression. Students will participate in clinical rounds, didactic training classes, and related seminars and journal clubs as scheduled. Participation in necropsies of clinical cases, sentinel animals, and study animals is expected. A brief assignment on aspects of lab animal medicine will be required prior to completion of the rotation. Depending upon scheduling, the students will have an opportunity to attend a meeting of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. A recent (within 6 months) negative skin test against tuberculosis is required by the first day of the rotation.
8 Credit Hours
VPTH 7900 Small Animal Pathology Holiday Rotation
This is an elective rotation similar to the necropsy component of the Diagnostic Services Rotation, VPTH 710,770. The rotation consists of practicumspent in performing necropsies and interpreting findings. Students are required to perform necropsies, write necropsy reports and to familiarize themselves with the pathophysiology, histopathology and the clinical manifestations of various disorders encountered. There will be two one-week rotations over the Holiday period, each for 2 credits. Each rotation will consist of half of the Holiday period and will not meet on either Christmas Day (week one) or New Years Day (week two). There is no clinical pathology, parasitology or microbiology component to this rotation. No paper is required for this rotation.
2 Credit Hours