Identification and Control of Emerging Diseases; Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV); Molecular Techniques; In ovo vaccination; Poultry Vaccines; Food Safety/Hygiene; Public Health.

Beginning April, 2004 I was appointed as an Assistant Professor at Ross University, School of Veterinary Medicine, St. Kitts. I teach Food Hygiene/Public Health and Epizootiology/Zoonoses to vet students from the IV semester.

I taught human anatomy, animal nutrition, and animal anatomy at the University of Delaware. At the University of Maryland, I taught animal anatomy and worked with pre-veterinarian students.

During the last year, I was employed by AviTech, Inc, as a consulted. I helped to design and test the modular machine, which is now used for in ovo Marek’s disease vaccination, a technology used in more than 85% of the broiler chickens produced in the United States.

I have earned two Master’s Degrees and I recently finished my PhD at the University of Maryland. The majority of my research has focused around vaccines against Mycoplasma gallisepticum and Infectious Bursal Disease Virus in poultry (IBDV). My PhD objective was to find alternative ways to vaccinate chickens against infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). Two new approaches were tested. The reverse genetic system was used to create a novel, attenuated, and large spectrum vaccine against Gumboro disease, a very contagious and immunesuppressive poultry disease. In the second approach, we created a DNA vaccine. Our vaccines were designed to be delivered in ovo combined with Marek’s diseases vaccine minimizing labor, costs and improving performance. My post-graduate studies have given me insight into the molecular biology field such as cloning, mapping, sequencing, PCR, and RT-PCR as well as vaccine trials, and licensing process according to OIE/USDA regulation.

While residing in Brazil, I was employed for several years as a diagnostician for a large poultry company, where I had an opportunity to increase my knowledge on poultry emerging diseases and diagnostics.

“Development of a novel vaccine against Newcastle disease virus”
L. Moura, and V. Vakharia
Reed Rumsey Award – American Association of Avian Pathologists
Proceedings of the 139th Annual Convention of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Denver, July 2003.

"Determination of the most effective route for in ovo delivery of DNA vaccines"
L. Moura, S. Elankumaran, G. Oshop, R. Heckert
Proceedings of the 138th Annual Convention of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Boston, July 2001.

"Pathogenesis and tissue distribution of a variant strain of infectious bursal disease virus in commercial broiler chickens"
S. Elankumaran, R. Heckert, L. Moura
Avian Dis., 46:1,2002

"Prevalence of the antibody Toxoplasma gondii in populations of laboratory and farm-raised rabbits"
F.A.P. Araujo, N.R.S. Silva, E.L. Chaplain, P.C. Appollo, L. Moura
Journal of Veterinary Medicine, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil; February 1991.