Author: Amy Schexnayder | Major: Biology and Psychology

My name is Amy Schexnayder, and I recently graduated from the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences with a B.S. in Biology and a B.A. in Psychology. Over the past year I have continued research on orthohantaviruses in Northwest Arkansas rodents, with generous funding from the Honors College Research Grant. As an aspiring doctor, I found this topic stretched my field of knowledge and furthered my understanding of the research process. I have done this research under my mentor, Dr. Kristian Forbes, in the biological sciences department and with the generous help of PhD candidate Nathaniel Mull.

The goal of this research was to identify the prevalence of orthohantaviruses in Northwest Arkansas rodents. Orthohantaviruses are a rodent-borne virus, that have the potential to spillover to humans and cause disease. Though hantaviruses have not yet spilled over to human populations in Arkansas, it has occurred in other states and is an important thing to research. Likewise, orthohantaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they can be transferred from animal to human. As the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic demonstrated, zoonotic viruses can cause be a great threat to human health and can wreak havoc on the world as we know it. Our research sought to shed light on the current prevalence of orthohantaviruses and expand our understanding of seasonal trends to help mitigate risk of human infection.

We conducted this research by trapping rodents across various sites in Benton and Washington counties. After trapping the rodents, we collected a blood sample and screened each rodent for a variety of physical characteristics like reproductive condition, sex, species, and mass. The rodents were later euthanized and dissected for tissue samples. The blood samples were later used for serology tests to identify if each rodent had antibodies to orthohantaviruses. The results of the antibody test were later confirmed by running PCR on each rodent sample.

We found a total of 34 rodents to be seropositive for orthohantaviruses, which illustrates that the virus is indeed in Northwest Arkansas. We also found the virus to be more common in rodents during the early summer season, which aligns with rodent breeding periods. These findings demonstrate the need for careful habitat management and precautions when dealing with rodent populations. As climate change continues to alter wildlife and their habitats, it is also especially important to understand seasonal patterns for zoonotic viruses. Such understanding will assist us in mitigating exposure to these pathogens and reducing spillover to humans.

This project improved my research skills immensely and gave me firsthand experience with infectious diseases. As a future doctor, this was a great learning experience and will certainly apply to my career moving forward. It has also pushed me to shadow infectious disease doctors, as I think this would be the perfect application of the skills and knowledge I have gleaned from this research project. This project has also given me the opportunity to publish in a scientific journal, to successfully defend my honors thesis, and to continue similar research in Finland.

Moving forward, I will be continuing a similar research project under Dr. Kristian Forbes in Finland. I am excited to continue this research and to keep expanding my research knowledge. After this, I will be attending medical school at UAMS where I am thrilled to integrate my skills as a researcher and mesh them with my interest in medicine. I am so thankful for this opportunity, and I know that this project has prepared me to be successful in this endeavor.

I am incredibly thankful for the opportunity to work on this project, and for Dr. Kristian Forbes and Nathaniel Mull for guiding me throughout the process. Dr. Kristian Forbes has welcomed me into the Forbes laboratory and fostered a fun, inclusive, and supportive research environment, in addition to the profound insight, guidance, and opportunity that he has provided. Nathaniel has spent a tremendous amount of time showing me how to do various lab procedures, teaching me about hantaviruses, and patiently correcting my mistakes. I would be lost without his advice, revisions, and patience.  I am also deeply grateful to the Honors College for their generous funding and support of this research. Without their aid, I would have been unable to put so much time, effort, and thought into this project.