Srinivas S. Rao D.V.M., Ph.D, M.B.A., Diplomate, ACVP
Biodefense Vaccine Translational Research and Licensure Program/Laboratory Animal Medicine
Description of Progam
The Laboratory Animal Medicine (LAM) Program provides all aspects of oversight and programmatic assistance to support teaching, training, and research involving laboratory animals. The Program is fully accredited by AAALAC and adheres to federal regulations as published in the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Guide), the Public Health Service Policy, the U.S. Government Principles Regarding the Care and Use of Animals, and NIH Manual Chapter 3040-2.
Dr. Rao also serves as the attending vet on the ACUC committee and helps coordinate laboratory animal activities with NIH including the Office of Animal Care and Use (OACU) .
LAM is unique among NIH institutes and centers in its support of in vivo research at the Vaccine Research Center (VRC). LAM is committed to the pursuit and achievement of scientific excellence by providing the highest quality in vivo research support and service, as well as providing judicious and humane use of animals in VRC research. The entire in vivo program is primarily centralized in its service, collaborative, and pre-clinical study support. LAM also pursues independent research projects related to vaccine development in animal models for infectious diseases such as Ebola, avian influenza, and HIV.
In assuring that the letter and the spirit of these regulatory requirements are met, the LAM provides a contemporary program that includes the following:
Veterinary Medical Care
- State-of-the-art husbandry, veterinary care, and management support of our colony animals
- Routine surveillance and quality assurance of vendor- and colony-produced animals
- Preventative medical care; surveillance, diagnosis, treatment, and control of disease; anesthesia; and analgesia
- Assistance with breeding-colony development and maintenance
- Training of faculty and staff in the handling, humane care, and manipulation of research animals
- Consultation, collaboration, and professional assistance in animal model development
- Monitoring of in vivo maintained tumor and hybridoma tissues
- Assisting in the review process of Animal Care and Use Protocol development
Veterinary Technical Services
- Parenteral injection or oral administration of pharmaceutical agents and other experimental materials
- Blood and/or serum collection
- Surgical manipulations
- Anesthetic administration
- Training in these techniques from the Veterinary Care Unit at no charge
Husbandry Technical Services
- Mouse breeding management (mating, sex identification, weaning, and pregnancy determination)
- Mouse rederivation assistance
- Autoclaved rodent caging and supplies
- Irradiation assistance to rodents and cells
- Housing facilities for infectious animals (restrictions apply)
- Rodent isolators (limited space)
- Quarantine services
- Procedure rooms for animal manipulations
- Special feeding and/or watering requests and animal transportation
Veterinary Pathology Consultation and Technical Procedures
- Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization analysis
- Luciferase/GFP staining and analysis
Independent Research Projects
- Avian influenza vaccine dosing studies
- Novel vaccine delivery method experiments
- Identification and reporting of idiopathic chondrolysis in macaques
- Measles/SIV co-infection studies
- Preclinical chikungunya vaccine studies
Veterinary Pathology Consultation
Selected Publications
Rao SS, Styles D, Kong W, Andrews C, Gorres JP, Nabel GJ. A Gene-Based Avian Influenza Vaccine in Poultry. *accepted for publication in Poultry Science
Rao SS, Bryant M, Herbert R, Sullivan N, Murray C, Bacher J, Safdar N. Idiopathic Chondrolysis Condition in Two Young, Wild-caught Cynomolgus Monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) Reared in Captivity. *accepted for publication in May/June 2009 issue of Veterinary Pathology
Dang V, Bao S, Ault A, Murray C, McFarlane-Mills J, Chiedi C, Dillon M, Todd JP, Detolla L, Rao S. Efficacy and safety of five injectable anesthetic regimens for chronic blood collection from the anterior vena cava of Guinea pigs. J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2008 Nov;47(6):56-60.
Permar SR, Kang HH, Carville A, Mansfield KG, Gelman RS, Rao SS, Whitney JB, Letvin NL. Potent simian immunodeficiency virus-specific cellular immune responses in the breast milk of simian immunodeficiency virus-infected, lactating rhesus monkeys. J Immunol. 2008 Sep 1;181(5):3643-50.
Rao SS, Kong WP, Wei CJ, Yang ZY, Nason M, Styles D, DeTolla LJ, Sorrell EM, Song H, Wan H, Ramirez-Nieto GC, Perez D, Nabel GJ. Multivalent HA DNA Vaccination Protects against Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza in Chickens and Mice. PLoS One. 2008 Jun; 3(6): e2432
Permar SR, Rao SS, Sun Yue, Bao S, Buzby AP, Kang HH, Letvin NL. Clinical Measles after Virus Challenge in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Measles Virus-Vaccinated Rhesus Monkeys. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 2007; 196:1784-1793
Letvin NL, Rao SS, Dang V, Buzby AP, Korioth-Schmitz B, Dombagoda D, Parvani JG, Clarke RH, Bar L, Carlson KR, Kozlowski PA, Hirsch VM, Mascola JR, Nabel GJ. No evidence for consistent virus-specific immunity in simian immunodeficiency virus-exposed, uninfected rhesus monkeys. J Virol. 2007 Nov;81(22):12368-74. Epub 2007 Aug 8.
Shu Y, Winfrey S, Yang ZY, Xu L, Rao SS, Srivastava I, Barnett SW, Nabel GJ, Mascola JR. Efficient protein boosting after plasmid DNA or recombinant adenovirus immunization with HIV-1 vaccine constructs. Vaccine. 2007 Feb.; 25(8): 1398-408.
Srinivas S. Rao, Phillip Gomez, John R. Mascola, Vi Dang ,Georgia R. Krivulka, Faye Yu, Carol I. Lord, Ling Shen, Robert Bailer, Gary J. Nabel, Norman L. Letvin. Comparative Evaluation of Three Different Intramuscular Delivery Methods for DNA Immunization in a Nonhuman Primate Animal Model. Vaccine. 2006 Jan.; 24(3):367-73.
Brenchley JM, Price DA, Schacker TW, Asher TE, Silvestri G, Rao S, Kazzaz Z, Bornstein E, Lambotte O, Altmann D, Blazar BR, Rodriguez B, Teixeira-Johnson L, Landay A, Martin JN, Hecht FM, Picker LJ, Lederman MM, Deeks SG, Douek DC. Microbial translocation is a cause of systemic immune activation in chronic HIV infection. Nat Med. 2006 Dec.; 12(12):1365-1371.
Sun Y, Schmitz JE, Buzby AP, Barker BR, Rao SS, Xu L, Yang ZY, Mascola JR, Nabel GJ, Letvin NL. Virus-specific cellular immune correlates of survival in vaccinated monkeys after simian immunodeficiency virus challenge. J Virol. 2006 Nov.; 80(22): 10950-6.
Liu X, Lagenaur LA, Simpson DA, Essenmacher KP, Frazier-Parker CL, Liu Y, Tsai D, Rao SS, Hamer DH, Parks TP, Lee PP, Xu Q. Engineered vaginal lactobacillus strain for mucosal delivery of the human immunodeficiency virus inhibitor cyanovirin-N. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2006 Oct.; 50(10):3250-9.
Letvin NL, Mascola JR, Sun Y, Gorgone DA, Buzby AP, Xu L, Yang ZY, Chakrabarti B, Rao SS, Schmitz JE, Montefiori DC, Barker BR, Bookstein FL, Nabel GJ. Preserved CD4+ central memory T cells and survival in vaccinated SIV-challenged monkeys. Science. 2006 Jun.; 312(5779):1530-3.
Rao S, Hu S, McHugh L, Lueders K, Henry K, Zhao Q, Fekete RA, Kar S, Adhya S, Hamer DH. Toward a live microbial microbicide for HIV: commensal bacteria secreting an HIV fusion inhibitor peptide. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2005 Aug.; 102(34):11993-8.
Smith JM, Rao SS, Stump KC, Benazzi C, Sarli G, DeTolla LJ. Mammary ductal carcinoma with comedo pattern in a rhesus macaque. Contemp Top Lab Anim Sci. 2005 Jul.; 44(4): 29-33.
Jeffrey D. Hasday, Allen Garrison, Ishwar S. Singh, Theodore Standiford, Garrettson S. Ellis, Srinivas Rao, Ju-Ren He, Penny Rice, Mariah Frank, Simeon E. Goldblum, and Rose M. Viscardi. Febrile-Range Hyperthermia Augments Pulmonary Neutrophil Recruitment and Amplifies Pulmonary Oxygen Toxicity. Am J Pathol. 2003 Jun;162(6):2005-17.
Viscardi RM, Kaplan J, Lovchik JC, He JR, Hester L, Rao S, Hasday JD. Characterization of a murine model of Ureaplasma urealyticum pneumonia. Infect Immun. 2002 Oct; 70(10):5721-9.
Vigneulle RM, Rao S, Fasano A, MacVittie TJ. Structural and functional alterations of the gastrointestinal tract following radiation-induced injury in the rhesus monkey. Dig Dis Sci. 2002 Jul;47(7):1480-91.
Reid W, Sadowska M, Denaro F, Rao S, Foulke J Jr, Hayes N, Jones O, Doodnauth D, Davis H, Sill A, O'Driscoll P, Huso D, Fouts T, Lewis G, Hill M, Kamin-Lewis R, Wei C, Ray P, Gallo RC, Reitz M, Bryant J. An HIV-1 transgenic rat that develops HIV-related pathology and immunologic dysfunction. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2001 Jul 31;98(16):9271-6.
Reid WC, Carmichael KP, Srinivas S, Bryant JL. Pathologic changes associated with use of tribromoethanol (avertin) in the Sprague Dawley rat. Lab Anim Sci. 1999 Dec;49(6):665-7. No abstract available.
Bunnell JE, Trigiani ER, Srinivas SR, Dumler JS. Development and distribution of pathologic lesions are related to immune status and tissue deposition of human granulocytic ehrlichiosis agent-infected cells in a murine model system. J Infect Dis. 1999 Aug;180(2):546-50.
Navarro-Garcia F, Eslava C, Villaseca JM, Lopez-Revilla R, Czeczulin JR, Srinivas S, Nataro JP, Cravioto A. In vitro effects of a high-molecular-weight heat-labile enterotoxin from enteroaggregative Escherichia coli. Infect Immun. 1998 Jul;66(7):3149-54.
Elliott SJ, Srinivas S, Albert MJ, Alam K, Robins-Browne RM, Gunzburg ST, Mee BJ, Chang BJ. Characterization of the roles of hemolysin and other toxins in enteropathy caused by alpha-hemolytic Escherichia coli linked to human diarrhea. Infect Immun. 1998 May;66(5):2040-51.
Xu M, Kumar D, Srinivas S, Detolla LJ, Yu SF, Stass SA, Mixson AJ. Parenteral gene therapy with p53 inhibits human breast tumors in vivo through a bystander mechanism without evidence of toxicity. Hum Gene Ther. 1997 Jan 20;8(2):177-85.
DeTolla LJ, Srinivas S, Whitaker BR, Andrews C, Hecker B, Kane AS, Reimschuessel R. Guidelines for the Care and Use of Fish in Research. ILAR J. 1995;37(4):159-173. No abstract available.
Note: Srinivas S. Rao was previously S. Srinivas
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| Left to Right: Alyse Zajac (Research Specialist), Carmelo Chiedi (Facility Manager), Jumagal Noor (Research Specialist), Srinivas Rao (Animal Program Director), Linda Bessacque (Administrative Assistant), John-Paul Todd (Research Associate), Saran Bao (Research Associate), Alida Ault (APC), J. Patrick Gorres (Post-baccalaureate IRTA) |
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