MSU scientists aiding health dept.

STARKVILLE, Miss.- Five research scientists from the Mississippi State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Department of Basic Sciences are assisting the Mississippi State Department of Health with efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Working at the MSDH Public Health Laboratory in Jackson on weekends in May to conduct COVID-19 human diagnostic testing, the scientists include CVM research associates Michelle Banes and Allen Shack; Dr. Wei Tan, director of the CVM flow cytometry facility; graduate student Liyuan Liu; and post-doctoral researcher Dr. Nogi Park, all of whom are skilled in molecular biology and currently work in areas conducting infectious disease research at CVM. The five scientists join Dr. Lifang Yan, a CVM faculty member at the Mississippi Veterinary Research and Diagnostic Laboratory in Pearl, who was already assisting MSDH. When MSDH indicated they could use additional help, “we were glad to step in and assist,” said MSU CVM Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Dr. Steve Pruett. The research scientists are familiar with and have the skills to perform this type of testing. The MSU-MSDH partnership also serves to develop a group of trained workers, who stand ready to provide this vital service in the event there is a sudden need to do large numbers of tests in the state in the future, Pruett added. (Source: MSU 05/12/20) https://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2020/05/scientists-msus-college-veterinary-medicine-assist-msdh-covid-19