Colin Parrish, PhD
Baker Institute for Animal Health
Research Interests
The basic and applied work of this laboratory are concerned with the study of viral diseases of dogs and cats, and our main efforts have been concentrated on a detailed analysis of parvoviruses of cats, raccoons, mink, and other carnivores, as well a studies to characterize the minute virus of canines.
Canine parvovirus (CPV) and the closely related feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) cause a variety of diseases in dogs and cats, with the main signs being diarrhea when the infection occurs in animals older than 2-3 months, while after fetal or neonatal infection myocarditis may occur in puppies or cerebella disease in kittens. In our studies we seek to understand at a very detailed level how these viruses function - which parts of the virus are responsible for the control of viral host range, how they infect cells, and how the immune responses of the host controls the infection. A major aim is to develop better and more effective methods for vaccinating dogs or cats against these viruses.