Winn is seeking donations of $250 and up to sponsor specific projects from the 2015 Winn grant review. Sponsors will receive progress reports as they are available and copies of any publications that result from the project that are provided by the investigators. Your help in sponsoring these projects means Winn can fund even more research next year.
One project will help cats through research even more the relationship of feline coronavirus to FIP virus and how to find early interventions to prevent the disease. Sponsorship is easy!
W15-026: Systemic feline coronavirus and its relationship to FIP. $24,967
Principal Investigator: Gary R. Whittaker, PhD; Cornell University
A critical determinant of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is the ability of the virus to infect white blood cells. The key differences between the viruses infecting the gastrointestinal tract (FECV), white blood cells, and other tissues and organs (FIPV), however, are still not well understood. The goal of this study is to understand the virus present in blood samples, and to identify the viral mutations responsible for spread in the blood. We expect the work proposed here to advance our understanding of both early and late events in FIP disease and to provide critical information on a diagnostic test currently under development in this lab The researcher also hopes to develop a novel, early, therapeutic interventions for treating FIP in the future.