Newswise — Virginia Tech researcher Phil Sponenberg is saving the breeds of livestock that helped build a nation — from the high-endurance colonial Spanish horse to breeds of cattle that pulled wagons and plows.
Dr. Sponenberg, a veterinarian and faculty member with the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and an expert on the genetics of domesticated animals, set out 30 years ago to save the legendary horses that arrived with Columbus and Cortez. He has helped individual owners and the Bureau of Land Management establish herds and he has gone on to identify and save rare breeds of cattle, bringing one back from only 11 animals.
The new issue of the Virginia Tech Research magazine features Sponenberg's work.
There are also stories about biologist Jeff Walters, whose work has restored rare and endangered species of birds; and about Marianne Talbot, a doctoral student in human development, whose study of dance therapy to recover from head injury, has resulted in a brave dance company that performs in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
Virginia Tech has more than 2,000 research projects underway. Eight stories about the university's exciting research activities are presented in the winter 2007 issue of the magazine, ranging from local to international research. Students have documented the contributions of early settlers in the Price's Fork community of Montgomery County as part of Appalachian studies. And a Virginia Tech entomologist traveled to Albania to help that nation save its major crop from the olive fruit fly, part of an international integrated pest management program managed by the university.
Safe food is an issue all to frequently in the news. Virginia Tech is testing high-pressure processing for use with foods and medicines to kill pathogens and inactivate enzymes to retard spoilage. And the news is good. The magazine presents before and after photos and findings so far on the use of pressure tactics on foods, ranging to fresh fruit to seafood.
There are also stories closer to home, within our bodies, and far away, in subarctic pools. Biomedical engineers explore deep within living tissues to develop individual assessment technologies for early detection of disease. A student in natural resources joined a Smithsonian research expedition to collect seaweed from artic pools, which will help in the development of tools to study human impact on environments.
The magazine is available online at http://www.research.vt.edu/resmag/.
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