Renukaradhya Gourapura DVM, PhD
email: gourapura.1@osu.edu
phone: 330-263-3748
Title(s)
Professor and Interim Director, Center for Food Animal Health
The Ohio State University
Office
Department of Animal Sciences Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center The Ohio State University 1680 Madison Avenue Wooster, OH 44691
Information
Education
Postdoctoral Fellow, 2002-2008, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana
PhD, 2002, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
MVSc, 1994, Veterinary College, Univ. Agri. Sci. Bangalore, India
DVM, 1991, Veterinary College, Univ. Agri. Sci. Bangalore, India
Bio
Dr. Gourapura received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree in Veterinary Science from the University of Agricultural Sciences and his PhD in Microbiology and Cell Biology from the Indian Institute of Science, both in Bangalore, India. He served as a National Research Services Award Trainee in Indiana University’s School of Medicine before joining the Ohio State University as a faculty member in the Center for Food Animal Health at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. His research involves developing and testing inactivated and subunit influenza virus vaccines in pigs, evaluating the effectiveness of intranasal nanovaccinations, and developing strategies to enhance influenza specific mucosal immunity in the respiratory tract of pigs. His earlier research demonstrated nanovaccination of pigs against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and salmonella oral deliverable nanovaccines in birds which induce specific adaptive and mucosal immunity in pigs and birds, respectively. In recent years, Dr. Gourapura wrote several peer-reviewed articles and co-wrote several book chapters in the areas of immunology and vaccinology, and co-patented methods for treating and preventing PRRS, swine influenza and salmonella.
Research
My laboratory research focus is on mucosal immunology of food animals infected with infectious and zoonotic diseases. Unlike systemic delivery, mucosal delivery of potent vaccines is gaining increased attention to increase the breadth of cross-protective immunity against infections which cause severe disease at mucosal sites. We are interested to understand mucosal immune responses in pigs and other species of food animals to viral and bacterial infections, and to vaccines delivered directly to mucosal sites. Currently, we are evaluating potent bacterial-based and synthetic adjuvants, which were proven effective and safe in other species of animals to use in food animals. Our ongoing studies are aimed to potentiate the cross-protective efficacy of modified live virus and biodegradable nanoparticle-entrapped inactivated virus vaccines of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) virus and influenza virus, co-administered intranasally with a potent adjuvant to pigs. Other focus of our study is to understand host-pathogen interactions, viral pathogenesis, and immune evasion mechanisms in food animals infected with viral and bacterial pathogens; and developing a pig model for biomedical research.