Members of Yabsley Group

MEMBERS OF THE YABSLEY GROUP

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TEACHING

In the spring, I teach a 3-credit course, WILD 5100/7100 Wildlife Disease Ecology and Management, that focuses on the natural history of common diseases of wildlife, including those that are at the interface of wildlife/domestic animals/humans. In May, I teach a 2-credit course on field techniques, WILD 4600/6600 - Field Methods in Wildlife. In the fall, I co-teach Veterinary Parasitology (course and lab) with other faculty members in the Department of Infectious Diseases at the UGA Vet School. I also give guest lectures in Natural Resources Management, Wildlife Techniques, and Biodiversity and Conservation in Warnell and Veterinary Epidemiology in the Vet School..

Michael J. Yabsley

Assistant Professor

I am an assistant professor of Wildlife Disease Ecology. I have a split appointment between the wildlife ecology and management program within the D. B. Warnell School of Forest Resources and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) in the Department of Population Health in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

CV in pdf format

RESEARCH

My research interests are varied and include several vector-borne pathogens (including Ehrlichia, Anaplasma, Borrelia, and Trypanosoma cruzi), Baylisascaris procyonis in raccoons from Georgia, avain influenza in free-ranging birds and the environments they inhabit, mycoplasmosis in gopher tortoises, and the long-term interactions of ticks and prescribed fire.

Graduate Students

Veterinary Student Researchers

Undergraduate Researchers

Enjoying the sun at the Southeastern Society of Parasitologists meeting
at Belle Baruch in South Carolina, April 2007

GRADUATE STUDENTS
Dawn Roellig, MS PhD student in Infectious Diseases, College of Veterinary Medicine "Biological and molecular characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi isolates from the United States" Dawn's personal webpage
Ben Wilcox MS student in Wildlife Ecology and Management, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources "Persistence of avian influenza virus in aquatic habitats"
Emily Blizzard MS student in Wildlife Ecology and Management, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources "Baylisascaris procyonis in Athens-Clarke County, Georgia"
Whitney Kistler MS student in Wildlife Ecology and Management, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources. Whitney is testing goose and duck serum samples to determine the usefullness of serology for the detection of local avian influenza circulation. However, he is not testing the freaky Easter lab bunny for AIV.
Jess Gonynor, MS PhD student in Wildlife Ecology and Management, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources starting Summer 2008
Elizabeth Gleim PhD student in Wildlife Ecology and Management, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources starting Summer 2008

GRADUATE STUDENT LAB ALUMNI
Emily Brown 2008 MS in Wildlife Ecology and Management, Wanell School of Forestry and Natural Resources "Host range and diagnostic assays for Trypanosoma cruzi in United States wildlife species" Emily is currently employed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Jessica Murdock 2008 MS student in Wildlife Ecology and Management, Wanell School of Forestry and Natural Resources "Role of white-tailed deer as reservoirs for Borrelia spp." Jessica is attending UGA's Veterinary School starting Fall 2008.

VETERINARY RESEARCH STUDENTS
Mason Savage Summer 2008 "In vitro characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi isolates from the United States"	Yup-he's back...just can't stay away.
Kate McMillan Summer 2007 "Infection dynamics of four Trypanosoma cruzi isolates for degsu (Octodon degus) and short-tailed opossums (Monodelphis domestica)"	Kate with a degu
Sean Adams Summer 2006 "Infection dynamics of Ehrlichia ewingii in domestic dogs and white-tailed deer fawns"	Sean feeding a white-tailed deer fawn.
Sarah Clay Summer 2006 "Development of PCR-protocol to detect Demodex species"	Sarah working hard in the lab...
Staci Murphy Spring 2005 - Spring 2006 Staci worked on several project while at SCWDS. Two projects were 1) the use of PCR to characterize piroplasms from Florida panthers [publication] and 2) experimental infection of raccoons with various tick-borne pathogens.	Staci presenting a poster at the National Veterinary Scholar Symposium

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHERS
Joey Magnus Fall 2007-present Chytrid testing of amphibians
Wendy Fujita Fall 2006 - present "Investigation of phylogenetic incongruities in Trypanosoma cruzi isolates as revealed by analysis of nuclear and mitochondrial gene targets"
Mason Savage 2004 - 2007 "Molecular and biological characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi from the southeastern United States"
Amanda Limbaugh Summer 2006 "Molecular characterization of Anaplasma species from cervids in Kansas"
Rhett Willis Fall 2005 "Biological characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi from the southeastern United States wildlife"
Erica Sessler Fall 2005 "Biological characterization of Trypanosoma cruzi from the southeastern United States wildlife"