UW professor receives immunology award

MADISON, WIS. - 12/8/05 - Dr. Gary Splitter is the 2005 American Association of Veterinary Immunologist's Distinguished Veterinary Immunologist.

Splitter is a professor in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine (UW).

The award honors outstanding contributions in veterinary immunology and was presented Dec. 6 during the 2005 Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases in St. Louis.

Splinter studies host-pathogen interactions to better understand the host defense and pathogen evasion mechanisms that define a disease process. He currently works with bovine leukemia virus to learn if a specific protein will prevent replication of the virus, UW officials say. He also is studying Brucella organisms to evaluate pathogen and host interactions as well as gene therapy using a bovine herpesvirus protein to deliver therapy against cancer, officials add.