Julia Flaminio's interest in the health problems of young foals began when she was a practicing veterinarians in her native Brazil
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Julia Flaminio's interest in the health problems of young foals began when she was a practicing veterinarians in her native Brazil |
Before Julia Flaminio, DVM, PhD, Dipl ACVIM, was an equine immunologist, an assistant professor of large animal internal medicine, and a veterinary judge for national and worldwide competitions in trail and endurance riding, she worked on breeding farms in her home country of Brazil. As a resident veterinarian, Flaminio used artificial insemination and embryo transfer techniques and treated neonates in distress. She became increasingly interested in the health problems of the young foal.
“In the initial phase of life, the foal is very vulnerable to infections,” Flaminio explains. “The horse placenta does not allow transfer of antibodies during gestation, so the foal is born essentially devoid of antibodies. The immune system of the very young horse can respond to organism insult, but it needs time to develop and become fully competent.”
Certain problems kept raising questions in Flaminio's mind until she became too curious to stay in private practice.
She acquired additional training, first at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, then at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University.
“During my residency, I was motivated by even more questions, especially about how the immune system elaborates a response and how we can modulate that response,” says Flaminio.
She was awarded a PhD in 2002 in immunology from the College of Veterinary Medicine under the mentorship of Doug Antczak, VMD, PhD. She then joined the faculty in the College of Veterinary Medicine as an assistant professor with expertise in equine immunology.
Her research focuses on the development of the equine immune system in the fetus and in the young foal. With a new Zweig grant, Flaminio is seeking to lay the foundation for developing ways to stimulate the immune system of very young horses.
“We're trying to identify areas of the foal's immune system that are well developed so we can target them to facilitate the immune response and make it more protective,” she explains.
She is currently looking at adjuvants, the parts of vaccines that aren't derived from pathogens but that promote the attraction and activation of immune cells to recognize and process foreign particles.
“We're trying to identify areas of the foal's immune system that are well developed so we can target them to facilitate the immune response and make it more protective.”
—Julia Flaminio
“We want to determine if the same adjuvant that's been effective in inducing an immune response against viral and bacterial organisms in neonates and adults in other species will prove helpful in assisting foals prepare their immune system during the first few weeks of life, when they most need it,” Flaminio explains.
In another area of research, Flaminio is trying to identify the causes of an acquired immunodeficiency in adult horses that she has recently identified and is currently characterizing. In addition, she has been collaborating with Klaus Osterrieder, DVM, Habilitation, and Amy Glaser, DVM, PhD, in the development of vaccine strategies for Equine Herpes Virus-1 and West Nile Virus.
Flaminio is already co-author of more than 20 peer-reviewed articles, 19 scientific abstracts, and seven book chapters—mostly on immunomodulation and immunology of the horse. She also writes for the lay reader. Almost a dozen of her articles on care of horses, riding tips, and other aspects of endurance riding have been published in horse journals and magazines. In addition, Flaminio serves as a worldwide veterinarian judge for championship endurance competitions.
“I am absolutely delighted that Dr. Flaminio has chosen to join the Department of Clinical Sciences,” says department chair Richard Hackett, DVM, MS, Dipl ACVS. “She is a superbly trained clinician and scien-tist with a passion to im-prove equine medicine. Her enthusiasm
for her research, her teaching, and her clinical work is fantastic.”
