An undergraduate student of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of the Novakofski & Mateus Chronic Wasting Disease research lab., Yi-Ying Tung, provides her experiences as a member of a multicultural and multidisciplinary research laboratory, in her article titled “Celebrating our diversity.” This article appears as part of the BEHIND THE SCENES stories published in September by the University of Illinois News Bureau. Read the whole story here.

Great Job Yi-Ying!!!

A recent graduate of the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of the Novakofski & Mateus Chronic Wasting Disease research lab., Kelsey Martin, provides the need-to-know facts about the adverse effects of feeding wildlife in general, and deer in particular, in her article titled “The Damaging Effects of Feeding Wildlife.” This article appears in the Outdoors Illinois Wildlife Journal. Read the whole story here.

Excellent work Kelsey!!!

This article originally appeared in the Illinois Audubon Society’s quarterly magazine, available to members through annual membership. See illinoisaudubon.org for more information.

A senior student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a member of our laboratory, Shannon Callahan, provides the need-to-know facts about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Illinois in her article titled ” Zombie Deer in Illinois: Facts vs. Fiction.” This article appears in the Illinois Audubon Society’s quarterly magazine.

Great work Shannon!!!

Zombie Deer in Illinois – Shannon Callahan [pdf]

Evan London presented his research entitled “Variation in the Thrill Seeking Gene (DRD4) of White-tailed Deer (O. virginianus)”at the Annual Meeting of The Illinois Chapter of The Wildlife Society (ICTWS) showcase at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Student Union, in April 2019.

Evan has been working on designing and validating primers that can be used to study genetic variation of the gene coding for DRD4 in white-tailed deer. Genetic variation within DRD4 gene could potentially be an underlying factor in some behaviors of deer, such as automobile collision, migration patterns, the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease, urban habitation, etc. Great job Evan!

Congratulations to undergraduate students Kelsey Martin and Roshni Mathur who did an amazing job presenting posters at the Annual Meeting of The Illinois Chapter of The Wildlife Society (ICTWS) showcase at the University of Illinois at Springfield, Student Union.

Roshni Mathur presented results on the exposure of raccoons and opossums to seven Leptospira Spp., and their potential role as host reservoirs on her poster entitled “Do opossums and raccoons shed Leptospira?”

Kelsey Martin presented how to identify key differences between bovine and avian tuberculosis in white-tailed deer, focusing on how to detect signs of disease and how to mitigate transmission to humans during field dressing on her poster entitled “Differences between Bovine and Avian Tuberculosis in white-tailed deer”