Winn Feline Foundation awards $310,000 for research

Published on
information-circle This article is more than 3 years old

Winn Feline Foundation logoWinn Feline Foundation announced in May that it has awarded $307,679 for 16 grants in feline medical research.

The foundation awarded four grants for research in feline shelter medicine, sponsored by PetSmart Charities, as follows:

  • "Optimization of the diagnosis of feline parvovirus (panleukopenia) infection in a shelter environment," Dr. Linda Jacobson, Toronto Humane Society, $21,500.
  • "Refining a method to measure heart rate variability (HRV) in freely moving cats to assess welfare," Lynette A. Hart, PhD, University of California-Davis, $11,306.
  • "Effects of a surrogate mother on misdirected oral behaviors in orphaned neonatal kittens," Dr. Karen Vernau, University of California-Davis, $25,000.
  • "Screening shelter cats for FeLV: Balancing disease control and lifesaving," Dr. Alexis Bardzinski at Austin Pets Alive and Dr. Julie Levy at the University of Florida, $24,984.

The foundation awarded 12 additional grants for research, as follows:

  • "Gene editing strategies for treatment of feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy," Elliott Chiu, Colorado State University, $15,000
  • "Annotation of genome regulatory regions in feline non-coding DNA via tissue specific ChIP-Seq," Dr. Alexandra N. Myers and William Murphy, PhD, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, $15,000, sponsored by Wisdom Health.
  • "Diagnostic and molecular identification of Trypanosoma cruzi infection in cats from animal shelters in southern Louisiana," Eric Dumonteil, PhD, Tulane University, $24,937.
  • "Targeted intra-arterial administration of tissue plasminogen activator as a treatment for feline distal aortic thromboembolism," Drs. Sigal Klainbart and Joshua Milgram, Hebrew University, $24,950.
  • "Identification of diagnostic biomarkers of feline infectious peritonitis," Drs. Gregg Dean and Kelly Santangelo, Colorado State University, $25,000.
  • "Generating an attenuated feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) vaccine by inactivating EndoU," Gary R. Whittaker, PhD, at Cornell University and Susan G. Baker, PhD, at Loyola University, $25,000.
  • "Developing a safe and effective anticoronaviral therapy for cats with FIP," continuation, Drs. Brian Murphy and Niels C. Pedersen, University of California-Davis, $23,779.
  • "Determining the pharmacokinetic profile of mefloquine in clinically normal cats as a preliminary in-vivo study towards a potential treatment for feline infectious peritonitis," Drs. Merran Govendir and Jaqueline Norris, University of Sydney, $24,624.
  • "Accuracy and precision of compounded famciclovir for treatment of cats affected with feline herpesvirus type-1," Dr. Louise O'Leary, Iowa State University, $8,587.
  • "The pharmacokinetics of single oral dose extended-release topiramate and adverse effects after multi-dose administration in healthy cats," Drs. Kari Foss and Jennifer M. Reinhart, University of Illinois, $18,800.
  • "Evaluation of feline urine concentrations of amoxicillin and clavulanate," Drs. Kate KuKanich and Butch KuKanich, Kansas State University, $7,275.
  • "Assessment of transdermal penetration of gabapentin in cats," Dr. Jennifer E. Slovak, Washington State University, $11,937.