April Davis

The main goals of the NYS rabies laboratory are the diagnosis and suppression of rabies. To achieve these goals, we provide same day rabies diagnosis on animal submissions, identify the rabies virus variants present in New York and throughout the country, evaluate the presence of rabies neutralizing antibodies in animal and human serum, and support the USDA’s Wildlife Services National Oral Rabies Vaccination (ORV) program. Our research projects align with these goals and include understating rabies virus transmission, dissemination, and pathogenesis in both terrestrial and aerial mammals, wildlife diseases such as white nose syndrome and canine distemper, and the development of primary and continuous cell lines from bats and some terrestrial wildlife species.

Research Interests:

• Zoonotic diseases
• Veterinary virology and microbiology
• Disease transmission and epidemiology

Research Concentrations:

• Infection & Immunity

Current Major Activities:

• Use of Whole Genome Sequencing to identify rabies virus variants circulating in the North-Eastern US
• Development of novel molecular diagnostic assays and techniques
• Use of molecular and microscopic techniques to study the pathogenesis of rabies in wildlife