Author: Wesley Vaught Major: Biology and Biochemistry
“Look at All Those Chickens!”
My name is Wesley Vaught, and I am a Biology and Biochemistry double major. My journey toward my Biochemistry degree brought me to my research mentor: Dr. Adnan Alrubaye. Dr. Alrubaye teaches the General Microbiology course here at the University of Arkansas, and Spring 2020 was not only a special time to take this course because I was blessed to have him for the entire semester, but we also were learning microbiology – the study of viruses, fungi, bacteria, and the clinical intervention in response to these microorganisms – in a time when the world was learning microbiology in a very real way.
Choosing Dr. Alrubaye as my research mentor was an obvious choice as his great character and continuous encouragement helped me thrive during quarantine, and his research is extremely relevant to my professional goal: medical doctor. Many times in the STEM disciples a mentor’s research interests become your own, so I chose to research the effect of feed additives in reducing the incidence of clinical lameness of broiler chickens over the course of Spring 2021 and beyond.
“Lameness is one of the most significant welfare issues in the broiler [poultry] industry, resulting in annual losses of millions of dollars” (Alrubaye et al., 2020). Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) – the death of tissue in bone and cartilage due to bacteria – of the femur and tibia significantly contributes to this lameness. The accepted disease model for broiler chickens in Northwestern Arkansas is the translocation of Staphylococcus agnetis from the gastrointestinal epithelium to the femoral and tibial heads due to stress and mechanical stress at the femur and tibia (Wideman, 2016. Previous work determined a feed additive Availa-ZMC to reduce the incidence of clinical lameness even after mechanical stress was induced (Alrubaye et al., 2020). My work with Dr. Alrubaye during Spring 2021 has aimed to investigate a new feed additive’s effect on the incidence of BCO and lameness, microalgae. Researchers have shown that microalgae in cattle and other rudiments has increased intestinal health, so this project looked for an expansion of the animals on the microalgae diet. The University of Arkansas farm housed 24 groups of 60 broilers, and undergraduate and graduate students with Dr. Alrubaye’s guidance facilitated raising the broilers from when they arrived until day 56 after their arrival on the farm: this care included feeding, watering, clinical and histological diagnosis. The subsequent lab work included diagnostic culturing, DNA extraction, and PCR to verify the microorganism residing inside this trial’s necrotic tissue. While this work is ongoing, the current methods include a control, treatment feed with Availa-ZMC, treatment feed with microalgae, and treatment feed with Availa-ZMC and microalgae. Statistical analysis comparing each treatment group to the control following bacterial identification will determine the efficiency of this feed additive. Looking toward the future, graduate students with Dr. Alrubaye have proposed a new trial with the administration of the known pathogen, S. agnetis, in the form of a vaccine during embryonic development.
The challenges during my first year of research did not stem from my research. On September 29, 2020, my step-sister – with whom I started my journey toward becoming a physician from a first-generation family – was murdered. Getting phone calls from her mother who had not heard from her daughter, I discovered her body along with her ex-boyfriend who committed a murder-suicide. I am thankful for an understanding mentor who I immediately reached out to and expressed what happened. Therefore, I am relatively new to research and his research team because I took time away from this work to ensure my coursework and my mental health were the forefronts of my mind. However, what is a challenge without a victory, and my involvement in Dr. Alrubaye’s lab during Spring 2021 has been that victory of perseverance and resiliency.
I plan on continuing to work for Dr. Alrubaye during this summer and the rest of my time here to hone my scientific mind and to produce ethically sound results. In addition, I am also a member of another lab in the Department of Psychological Sciences. These two research experiences will prepare me for my future goal of becoming an MD/Ph.D. My interests lie not only in science but also in the practice of medicine. With a large proportion of my family being veterans, many of my family members passing from brain-related diseases, and the recent effect of trauma in my life, I plan on learning the dual disciplines of neurological care. However, the road is long, so this summer I am going to continue to recover from a very traumatic situation and plan on how to accomplish my goals without becoming burned out.