{"id":33314,"date":"2014-11-03T14:05:22","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T21:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=33314"},"modified":"2014-11-03T15:09:49","modified_gmt":"2014-11-03T22:09:49","slug":"student-developed-technology-detect-plague-strains-madagascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/student-developed-technology-detect-plague-strains-madagascar\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-developed technology to identify plague strains in Madagascar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Cedar Mitchell<\/strong>, a senior at Northern Arizona University, is traveling to Madagascar in January to work with scientists using NAU technology\u00a0to better understand origins of that country\u2019s recent plague outbreaks. <em>Yersinia pestis<\/em>, responsible for global pandemics including Black Death, continues to proliferate in Madagascar, where there were 256 human cases and 60 deaths from plague in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Plague lives naturally in the environment, and in Madagascar, an island off the southeast coast of Africa, the disease is primarily spread between fleas and rats, but it is possible for the deadlier pneumonic form of plague to spread between humans. By better understanding the way plague is being spread, public health officials can more effectively manage the outbreaks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat this technology does is help\u00a0track the disease and see if it is spreading village to village or if the plague is coming directly from the environment,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cIf this technology is used correctly in Madagascar, it could potentially stop the spread of this disease throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell works at the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at NAU, with faculty mentor\u00a0<strong>David Wagner<\/strong>, known for his research on infectious diseases including plague. Her technical mentor is <strong>Dawn Birdsell,<\/strong> whose genetic fingerprinting technology Mitchell adapted for use in Madagascar.<\/p>\n<p>Several years ago, Birdsell saw the need for improving genetic research in countries with limited resources, so she developed a simplified technology that captures the same genetic information as some of the more advanced\u00a0procedures. \u201cThis platform is readily available across most research labs, and because of the simplicity and the stability, many labs of low resources can afford to have this type of platform in their research facilities,\u201d Birdsell said.<\/p>\n<p>In January, Mitchell will work with scientists in the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar to ensure their proper use of the technology. A Hooper Undergraduate Research Award funded the technical components of the project. The 10-day trip is funded by NAU\u2019s Center for International Education, the NAU Student Travel Award fund, and online crowdfunding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs an undergraduate scientist, this is an incredible opportunity for me to see the final part of my project working successfully.\u201d Mitchell also is anticipating her time overseas working alongside scientists in Madagascar and observing researchers in another country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"search-results-excerpt-link\" href=\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/student-developed-technology-detect-plague-strains-madagascar\/\">Cedar Mitchell, a senior at Northern Arizona University, is traveling to Madagascar in January to work with scientists using NAU technology\u00a0to better understand origins of that country\u2019s recent plague outbreaks. Yersinia pestis, responsible for global pandemics including Black Death, continues to proliferate in Madagascar, where there were 256 human cases and 60 deaths from plague&hellip;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}