“Cats Rule” at Least for this Science Café Audience

By Julie Nettifee

The CMI faculty, Dr. Jody Gookin and Dr. Adam Birkenheuer shared their journey as veterinarians and scientists with an audience of more than 100 visitors at the January 19, 2017 Science Café, organized and hosted by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, Raleigh and the CMI. The topic of the Café, “Cat’s Rule, Dog’s Drool,” was a creative way to introduce some feline-based infectious disease research to audience members. Canine-based topics have long been popular with Museum Café visitors, and the cat-themed based talk by Dr. Gookin and Dr. Birkenheuer allowed the Museum to fill a request from cat lovers that has spanned the last 10 years, per Christopher Smith in his opening introductory comments.

Dr. Jody Gookin outlined some of her work with infectious gastrointestinal disorders in kittens such as pathogenic e.coli and other parasites impacting the GI system, as it related to both veterinary and human health. Dr. Gookin is one of our 2016 recipients of CMI Seed Grant Funding. Dr. Birkenheuer outlined tick-borne infectious disease research based on the geographical spread of Cytauxzoon felis, a tick-transmitted protozoal parasite.

The following is a link to the livestream broadcast of the presentation:

https://livestream.com/naturalsciences/Cafe/videos/147198813

As part of NC State’s core mission, the CMI supports research, outreach and teaching. If your interdisciplinary team would like to be considered for future outreach opportunities, email CMI Program Associate, Julie Nettifee, janettif@ncsu.edu