Dr. Susan L. Ewart

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Michigan State University
College of Veterinary Medicine
Large Animal Clinical Sciences
Associate ProfessorAppointed: 1995
Professional Headshot of Susan L. Ewart

Mailing Address

B41 Food Safety & Toxicology Center
Large Animal Clinical Sciences
Michigan State University
College of Vet Med
East Lansing, Michigan 48824
United States

Contact Information

Phone: (517) 432-6307
Fax: (517) 432-7141
ewarts@msu.edu
http://cvm.msu.edu/lcs

Qualifications

Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University, Environmental Physiology, 1995.
D.V.M., Michigan State University, Veterinary Medicine, 1987.
B.S., Michigan State University, Veterinary Medicine, 1985.

Expertise and Research Interests

Dr. Ewart proposes to investigate the mechanisms underlying airway hyper responsiveness (AHR). This response is well recognized as an essential feature of asthma and other obstructive airway disorders. A genetic predisposition to nonspecific AHR can be demonstrated in humans and in many animal models. While multiple mechanisms may play a role in AHR, building evidence suggests T lymphocyte mediated bronchial inflammation is likely to be a common factor in the development of this response. The general hypothesis governing this proposal is that AHR is regulated by genes associated with the inflammatory response. The goal is to map the genes that regulates AHR and to begin to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which alleles at this locus determine AHR in vivo. A natural animal model in which three quantitative trait loci have been mapped directing acetylcholine mediated AHR in inbred strains of mice is proposed. The first objective is to evaluate potential mechanisms by which T Iymphocytes mediate AHR. The qualitative and functional relationships between lymphokine production and AHR is being characterized using reverse transcriptase polymersse chain reaction and transgenic methodologies. The second objective is to refine the detailed map location for the major gene Ach loci regulating airway responsiveness in this model. Random polymorphic DNA markers and potential candidate genes are being evaluated for linkage with the AHR phenotype. These studies can be used to elucidate primary mechanisms establishing the phenotype of AHR, rule out disease mechanisms and suggest hypotheses for localizing human genes controlling AHR.

Other Expertise

Genetic mechanisms underlie a variety of equine diseases. Anterior segment dysgenesis is an inherited eye disease of horses. We have characterized the inheritance of this disease as codominant and are currently pursuing identification of the causative gene and defect. Class III malocclusion (underbite) in donkeys is a familial congenital defect and we are studying candidate genes for this phenotype based on mutations underlying coronal craniosynostosis in humans. In related projects we are developing molecular tools for use in mapping various equine genetic traits.

Keywords

COS Keywords:

Animal Genome, Animal Science, Food Safety, Gene Regulation, Veterinary Medicine.

Additional Terms:

Food Safety.

Languages

(Reading, Writing, Speaking)

English: (Fluent, Fluent, Fluent)

Memberships

American Thoracic Society
American Veterinary Medical Association

Previous Positions

1994-1995, Instructor, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine
1991-1994, Potsdoctoral Fellow, Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Environmental Health Sciences
1989-1991, Resident, Michigan State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Internal Medicine
1987-1989, Veterinarian, Equine Veterinary Clinic

Funding Received

  • National Institutes of Health (NIH): Asthma positional candidate gene in mice and humans, Sep 1, 2000 to Aug 30, 2005.
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH): Positional candidate genes for airway responsiveness, Aug 1, 2000 to Jul 31, 2005.

Publications

  • Shubitowski DM, Wills-Karp M, Ewart SL, The complement factor 5a receptor gene maps to murine chromosome 7, Cytogenetic and Genome Research, 97(1-2), 133-5, 2002 Abstract
  • Shubitowski DM, Venta PJ, Douglass CL, Zhou RX, Ewart SL, Polymorphism identification within 50 equine gene-specific sequence tagged sites, Animal Genetics, 32(2), 78-88, April 2001 Abstract
  • Ewart SL, Schott HC 2nd, Robison RL, Dwyer RM, Eberhart SW, Walker RD, Identification of sources of Salmonella organisms in a veterinary teaching hospital and evaluation of the effects of disinfectants on detection of Salmonella organisms on surface materials, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 218(7), 1145-51, April 2001 Abstract
  • Schott HC 2nd, Ewart SL, Walker RD, Dwyer RM, Dietrich S, Eberhart SW, Kusey J, Stick JA, Derksen FJ, An outbreak of salmonellosis among horses at a veterinary teaching hospital, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 218(7), 1152-9, 1100, April 2001 Abstract
  • Mansfield LS, Schott HC 2nd, Murphy AJ, Rossano MG, Tanhauser SM, Patterson JS, Nelson K, Ewart SL, Marteniuk JV, Bowman DD, Kaneene JB, Comparison of Sarcocystis neurona isolates derived from horse neural tissue, Veterinary Parasitology, 95(2-4), 167-78, February 2001 Abstract
  • Ewart SL, Kuperman D, Schadt E, Tankersley C, Grupe A, Shubitowski DM, Peltz G, Wills-Karp M, Quantitative trait loci controlling allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness in inbred mice, American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 23(4), 537-45, October 2000 Abstract
  • Karp CL, Grupe A, Schadt E, Ewart SL, Keane-Moore M, Cuomo PJ, Kohl J, Wahl L, Kuperman D, Germer S, Aud D, Peltz G, Wills-Karp M, Identification of complement factor 5 as a susceptibility locus for experimental allergic asthma, Nature Immunology, 1(3), 221-6, September 2000 Abstract
  • Ewart SL, Ramsey DT, Xu J, Meyers D, The horse homolog of congenital aniridia conforms to codominant inheritance, Journal of Heredity, 91(2), 93-8, 2000 Abstract
  • Nicolaides NC, Holroyd KJ, Ewart SL, Eleff SM, Kiser MB, Dragwa CR, Sullivan CD, Grasso L, Zhang LY, Messler CJ, Zhou T, Kleeberger SR, Buetow KH, Levitt RC, Interleukin 9: a candidate gene for asthma, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 94(24), 13175-80, November 1997 Abstract
  • Wills-Karp M, Ewart SL, The genetics of allergen-induced airway hyperresponsiveness in mice, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 156(4 Pt 2), S89-96, October 1997 Abstract
  • Tankersley CG, Fitzgerald RS, Levitt RC, Mitzner WA, Ewart SL, Kleeberger SR, Genetic control of differential baseline breathing pattern, Journal of Applied Physiology, 82(3), 874-81, March 1997 Abstract
  • Ewart SL, Gavett SH, Margolick J, Wills-Karp M, Cyclosporin A attenuates genetic airway hyperresponsiveness in mice but not through inhibition of CD4 or CD8 T cells, American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, 14(6), 627-34, June 1996 Abstract
  • Levitt RC, Eleff SM, Zhang LY, Kleeberger SR, Ewart SL, Linkage homology for bronchial hyperresponsiveness between DNA markers on human chromosome 5q31-q33 and mouse chromosome 13, Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 25 Suppl 2, 61-3, November 1995 Abstract
  • Levitt RC, Ewart SL, Genetic susceptibility to atracurium-induced bronchoconstriction, American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 151(5), 1537-42, May 1995 Abstract

Profile Details

Last Updated: 7/16/2003

COS Expertise ID #453073
Reference this profile directly: http://myprofile.cos.com/ewart