Vet lab at the center of education and diagnostics - Dr. Dan Grooms

N5N1 is a set of numbers and letters that runs a shudder through many in agriculture. But it is a situation that many have had to deal with in real time here in the last few years. First, it is still bird flu and it was in poultry, then it made its way into the dairy cows and into humans. Testing is key, is vital, timely, and needed to keep commerce open among sectors of the economy. We are going to find out from one of those labs on the ground level, who are involved in these tests and trying to keep things going and who come up with answers. Hi, I'm Paul Yeager. This is the MToM podcast, a production of Iowa PBS in the Market to Market TV show. Dr. Dan Grooms is the dean of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, it was at one of his labs, by the way that just had a major renovation and a fundraising or it has been a kickoff for another building project that's already started and working on they've celebrated one have another one going. It's so important as things continue to expand, as it is still a teaching but there is lots of real world applications going on every single day at this lab. So we're going to talk about diagnostics, we're going to talk about testing. We're going to hit h five n one and the relationship between different institutions as well as government agencies as they try to navigate animal health. If you have any feedback for me or want to send me an email, it's Paul.Yeager@IowaPBS.ORG. New episodes of this podcast come out each and every Tuesday. Now. Let's start with football. And an official’s point of view.

Dean, I have to ask, we were just talking football before we recorded is football officiating. A good, I won't say common thing to a faculty meeting, but is it very similar to academic fights as a football fight?

Dan Grooms: Well, that's a great question. You know, actually I officiate high school football for a couple of reasons. Number one, I do it really because I love football and I played football and in high school in college, but it's also really part of my both mental and physical well being and, and I actually talk about that when I talk with our faculty and our staff and our students. I says, you know, I tell them you know, in veterinary medicine, we have a very stressful job. It's a stressful profession and we need to learn to take care of ourselves. So I I commonly talk about the fact that one of the things I do for both my mental as well as my physical well being is is is officiate high school football and a lot of people say that doesn't sound very good for your mental well being but but actually it is I mean I just love being out on the football field with with the kids and the coaches and to some extent the fans as well but but I love it and I you know if there's anybody out there that would would like to officiate I'd love to talk to him because it's something that we need and in in there is a need for it in the in the high schools across really across the United States. 

[Yeager]  Spoken like many other officials I've talked with where they're always like we need more to come join us. It's fun, seriously, no, really, it's fun. But you know, the whole science of the physical exercise and the mental side of things absolutely are true. And a hobby that's different. Also for well being so you're working on wanting well rounded individuals as well as super brains in their field.

[Grooms]  Absolutely. I mean, the veterinary profession is really a people profession. Yes, we, you know, we provide medical services and clinical services to care for animals, whether it's whether it's livestock across state of Iowa, horses or companion animals, but but in the end, what we're really doing is helping their owners, the clients, the farmers across state of Iowa, so it's really, as much as it is caring for the animals. It's also caring for the people and their owners.

[Yeager]  As a person who is at the forefront of Animal Science, you had a pretty big celebration here at the beginning of April. It's always ongoing. There's always additions and renovations that need to be done. But tell me about this worthy of having a party to celebrate the latest addition there at Iowa State. Sure.

[Grooms]  So Paul, in April, we opened up the first phase of our new Veterinary Diagnostic Lab. So we actually had the ribbon cutting on April 4, and it was a wonderful celebration. We had over 200 people from around the college from around Iowa State from the local community and Ames and really from across Iowa come to be part of that celebration. So this was actually the opening of phase one of our new vet. We're a diagnostic lab. And at the same time, we also broke ground for the second phase of that new Veterinary Diagnostic Lab. Because of the way the project was funded, we actually broke it down into two phases with Phase One getting done, again, this spring and phase two taking off this spring as well, with an anticipated completion date of phase two, in the fall of 2026. But really excited about this new facility, which really provides a state of the art facility for us in our Veterinary Diagnostic Lab, which is located in the College of Veterinary Medicine here at Iowa State. But it provides that really state of the art facility that we can continue to provide just just, you know, cutting edge diagnostic testing for the people, the state of Iowa for their animals, and really for people and farmers beyond the state of Ohio as well. So really excited about this project and excited about where it's going to allow us to go in not only providing diagnostic services, but also in training the next generation of veterinarians and scientist in diagnostic medicine, and also to answer important questions, animal health questions and public health questions that are important, again, to the people of Iowa and actually to the people united states and even globally at that. 

[Yeager]  We'll get into part of that global side, or at least other parts of the country in a moment. But I want to go back right, sir, right there. At the end, you said something about working with scientists and veterinarians kind of working together. So in these labs, who are the people that are in there on a day to day basis?

[Grooms]  Absolutely. So, within our Veterinary Diagnostic Lab here at Iowa State, currently, we have about 150 staff, and then 30 faculty that work hand in hand together to do the diagnostic testing that we are asked to do. So the faculty are the diagnosticians there in the end, they're the ones that are, that are making the final kind of call or the final decision on a diagnostic test, or assay or observation, the staff, we're doing kind of all the behind the scenes work of actually running the test, running tests in, you know, like in culture plays, if we're looking for bacteria, or in PCR machines, or all the other things that go on. And then the faculty make the final diagnosis based on the results of the tests that they see. So all told about a wonderful, wonderful group of about 180 folks that are working within that laboratory. And I think it's important to understand that, that, that our staff and our faculty are working hand in hand, with, with clients from again, not only Iowa, but really around the country and around the world and the main client are referring veterinarians, so they're veterinarians that are in the field, working again, across Iowa, or across the United States. So they're the boots on the ground, working with the farmers are working with working with their clients. And when they need diagnostic support, then those referring veterinarians are sending samples to us, so that we can provide the diagnostic support that they need.

[Yeager]  How important is speed in what you're talking about? 

[Grooms]  Well, that's a great question, Paul. And it's incredibly important. So, you know, our, our, our veterinarians are demanding, and their clients are demanding and they, you know, when they have a problem, they want answers as quickly as possible. Because, you know, if animals are sick, or if animals potentially are dying, they need answers as quick as possible. So they can take corrective actions to reverse the course of whatever is going on. The other thing also that our diagnostic lab does is they provide testing on what are assumed to be presumed to be healthy, normal animals, and they're doing that testing so that those animals can move from one form to another. So obviously, when, when, when that happens, they want Tiler results. So that, the movement of animals from one form to another or from one state to another can occur in a timely manner. We're so fortunate here, our team, our staff, our faculty, are diagnosticians we have we've put in place a system where, in many cases, when samples arrive at our laboratory, we can get them the answers that they need are the results that they need that same day, not not always the case. But most of the time, we can actually get results from them in the same day so that they can, again, allow animals to move if they're moving normal animals or healthy animals, or in the case of when we have sick animals or dying animals. They have information so that they can make the right intervention strategies.

[Yeager]  Well, no strategies have came into play just in the last couple of weeks, with the emergence of h five n one moving being discovered in dairy cows. And when you have the samples that come in there, they're vets who need to know how much I do I isolate? Can I move? There are these questions. So speed is extremely important in just recent times that you're highlighting. 

[Grooms]  Absolutely. So. So, Paul, so just recently, I think many of your listeners are aware that there's, there was this mystery cow disease that was being described in Texas and Kansas. And a lot of people working to try to understand what was going on on these dairy farms, where cows were getting sick, going off feed, decrease in milk production, and then and then a variety of other clinical signs as well. And so a lot of labs around the United States or in Texas down in the Southwest, we're working on this. And in our team here at Iowa State was also working on the problem as well working with, again, referring veterinarians down in Texas, trying to help solve that problem. And and in the end, through great work between our team, our diagnosticians, as well as the veterinarians down in Texas, we were able to, to identify highly pathogenic avian influenza, so h five n one, as you said, in some milk samples, and, and that led to other labs looking for that as well. And sure enough, it appears that that is what's causing this disease outbreak in Texas, and now it has been identified in several states across the United States. So, so again, and just to share with you, I mean, samples came to our lab, and within 48, you know, basically three days, we had results that allowed for us to further investigate and provide answers to not only farmers down in Texas, but Iowa, across the United States.

[Yeager]  And from the reporting that we had done on Market to Market, it was kind of the vet, a vet in Texas, who was an Iowa State alum, was basically corresponding with somebody in your lab about, hey, this is what I'm seeing, how important is it to be able to have channels like that, where you can have quick conversations and high level scientific things, beyond anything I'll ever understand, but that they're able to do in very real time. And the consequences are huge.

[Grooms]  Paul, that's, that's critical. I mean, to be able to have those conversations, our diagnostic sessions asking questions to the veterinarians on the ground, you know, what are you seeing? What are you observing? You know, what other diagnostic tests have been done? What, you know, what were the results there? And then vice versa, the veterinarian down at the ground asking questions of our diagnostics about, what do you think about this, this is what I'm observing, you know, I'm seeing a higher incidence of dead birds. One of the things that was observed down in Texas or, you know, in addition to the cow disease, I'm seeing, you know, some clinical signs and cats. Okay, so, so are diagnostics and say, Hey, dead birds, cats that are sick, you know, maybe we need to look at these possibilities as well. And so having those conversations going back and forth, based on everybody's experiences, and knowledge is how, how we potentially get to the right answer, which we did in this case. And it's not just the veterinarian down in Texas and one diagnostician here. It's a team. It's a team effort, right? It's the veterinarian down in Texas, talking to the farm manager, talking to the people that are doing the feeding, it's talking to the folks that are working in the milking parlor. So that veterinarian is eyes on the ground, trying to collect that information. And then up here at Iowa State, it's our diagnosticians, talking to our virologists or talking to our bacteriologists are talking to our toxicologist asking their opinion on what they might think is going on based on what they're hearing from the farm. So really, it's a team effort on both ends with communication and in between.

[Yeager]  And it's also an academic one, because you mentioned who's in your lab, and it's you are still teaching, this is still education, what better way to have real life skills that they are going to face in a very quickly changing environment than what just unfolded?

[Grooms]  Absolutely. So it's great, it's a great teaching example of how to solve a problem and how to solve the problem as a healthcare team. So you've got this problem. You know, you may not know the answer to it, but let's reach out to a variety of different people to try to get their opinions their thoughts based on either their training or their knowledge or their experiences. So it's a great example of how our students, whether they're our veterinary students, or whether they're graduate students or whether they're folks training in advanced diagnostics. It's a great example to Show them how you potentially solve a very complicated problem.

[Yeager]  And you did just also then extended, I guess my follow up was already answered, but I just want to hit it again, you're talking about diagnostics. This is one part. But then there's those next levels that it sounds like is happening. Is that all inside the walls of the center that are at your facility? Or where do these other folks reside? That, that they're having these conversations?

[Grooms]  Yep. So so. So just to give an example, what's happening now that, that we understand that this diseases is being caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza, so a couple things happen right away. Again, our team goes into immediate research mode. So we found this virus. The first thing is, let's, let's sequence it and see, you know, how it's related to other highly pathogenic avian influenzas, that are circulating in bird populations, you know, that may be found in other states. So, so that's first research question is, who is this virus related to? Okay, so that's, that's been done. And that's been published. And then another thing that's happening is let's look at where the viruses are in tissues that are coming from animals that that potentially died from this disease. So, so our diagnosticians and our researchers are looking, you know, where can we actually find the virus within the animal? And, you know, interestingly, with this disease outbreak, it is very concentrated within the udder of the mammary tissue. So that's something unique. So the next thing is, is we have researchers that are asking, why, why is this virus seem to be attracted to the utter or mammary tissue of dairy cows? So that's the next research question that's happening. And so one question gets answered, and then another one comes up, and then we go into research mode to try to answer that as well. We are partnering with colleagues from other colleges across Iowa State, we're partnering with other universities. here in Ames, we're very lucky to have the USDA National Animal Disease Center located here in Ames, Iowa, another fantastic research source. So we're partnering with NADC, to help try to answer these questions. So the really cool thing that that occurs here at our diagnostic lab at Iowa State is when we find something new, we find an emerging disease issue like we have here, we immediately go into research mode, typically involving lots of people, okay, lots of people that have varying expertise, but they come together as a team to try to get the answers and answer the questions that are farmers that are referring veterinarians, that the public need to solve this problem.

[Yeager]  Dr. Your experience is across some major agricultural academic institutions, Cornell, Michigan State Ohio State, Taka about the relationship over academics versus USDA and how important it is to have these higher levels of learning be in constant conversation and contact with these federal agencies that are involved with these viruses as well.

[Grooms]  So Paul, it's really critical. I mean, you know, USDA has a critical role in helping to keep our livestock industries healthy, but they can't do it alone. And likewise, you know, we have, we have an important role, but we can't do it alone, as well. So it's really critical that we partner together with our federal agencies in solving these problems. You know, a perfect example. Our laboratory is what's called a non lab. So it's a National Animal Health Laboratory network laboratory. And this is this is this has been created by the USDA and it's actually funded federally. But what that relationship does, or the non labs designation does is it really connects laboratories across the United States, in every state within the United States. To help number one provide the capacity to identify emerging disease problems like we're dealing with right now, or to monitor for diseases that we know that we don't want here in the United States, such as something like Foot Mouth Disease, or African swine fever. So that's a relationship between all the laboratories, state laboratories and federal diagnostic labs across the United States, as well as our federal partners to help protect the livestock here in the United States. So, to your point, it's really important to have close working relationships. We each have our expertise we each have our are things we do well, but as a team working together, we're much better prepared to number one, do something like we're doing right now identify an emerging problem, or just as importantly help protect our livestock here, not only in Iowa, but across the United States against other threats that are at our borders.

[Yeager]  Has that partnership always been there?

[Grooms]  It has, it has, and it continues to get stronger. Paul, you know, everybody understands that we can't do this alone, and we need to work together. And that the partnership continues to be strengthened. You know, one of the things that that will be important as, as the US Congress works on the next farm bill is to make sure that there's funding and resources available through the Farm Bill, to make sure that that partnership continues to be strong as it is now, and even gets stronger as we go forward.

[Yeager]  So there wasn't like one event that forced everybody, we used to all be on different teams. And now we really realized that working together is for the good of the cause. Is that what you're saying? 

[Grooms]  Yeah, that's, that's a great question. And I would have to say that, you know, probably about 20 years ago, there was some serious foreign animal disease outbreaks that occurred, not necessarily here in the United States, but in Europe, specifically around Foot and Mouth Disease. And at the same time, there were concerns about terrorism after the 911 attacks. And I, after those events occurred, I think there was increased efforts just to provide more funding and more communication to help protect livestock across the United States. So that's about 20, almost 25 years ago now that those events happen. And I think that although there was already relationships that occurred, I think those events, you know, sent a message, you know, really across the United States that we need to up our game when it comes to protecting, protecting everything, including agricultural livestock. So I think that probably started upping the game when it comes to protecting our livestock.

[Yeager]  Oh, and I think those in the agriculture industry absolutely are aware of Foot and Mouth pseudorabies, all these viruses that had been known to go through livestock, and then when you get to 2020, the general public then had a much better understanding of biosecurity, I guess, you could say 911 as well. But the COVID era really kind of re put a spotlight back on info sharing, agencies having to work together academics, trying to figure out and assist in all of this and figure out what to teach for those who are going to be out in the field. So I guess it's all that spotlight been good. It made your job easier as dean.

[Grooms]  Well, well, it helps, it helps. It helps demonstrate what a College of Veterinary Medicine and what veterinarians do to really not only protect animal health, but also public health. You know, it also a great example, you talked about COVID, COVID-19. You know, that was a wonderful opportunity for us as a diagnostic lab here to demonstrate how we could step up and provide support, during, in this case, a human pandemic. So typically, we're working with animals and working with animal diseases and animal pandemics. But during COVID, what we quickly realize across the United States, not just here in Ohio, but really across the United States is that we didn't have the diagnostic capacity to do the diagnostics necessarily to respond to a, a a human pandemic. And so what we did at our diagnostic lab was we partnered with the state of Iowa, we partnered with the state hygienic lab in Iowa City to help provide diagnostic capacity during the COVID 19 pandemic. And we did that in a couple of different ways. Number one was we partnered with the state hygienic lab and actually moved some of our diagnostic equipment, and also provided some of our expertise in large scale testing of samples to the lab in Coralville. And that allowed them really to ramp up their testing very, very quickly. And then we also then started providing testing for COVID-19 here with our diagnostic lab, here in Ames. Most specifically for the university but also for some of the local health care providers here in central Iowa. Pretty much, many other diagnostic labs animal diagnostic labs across the country did the same thing. So just really showed how a animal diagnostic lab could pivot very quickly, using the same equipment and same protocols and provide that surge capacity during a human pandemic. Really, really proud of what our team did to support the response and, but the same thing really occurred across the United States and other veterinary diagnostic labs as well.

[Yeager]  And frankly, there might come a time when that's going to be needed again, or there's going to have to be a greater understanding of making sure something doesn't go? Or why something does or does not go from an animal to a human or a human to an animal. And I guess it could go back to h five and one, because there is that concern about how can that virus end up in a human?

[Grooms]  You bet. Absolutely. So, Paul, what you're talking about are zoonotic diseases or diseases that go from animals to humans. So another great example of why diagnostic labs, animal diagnostic labs or Veterinary Diagnostic labs are so important so that we can detect those zoonotic diseases in animals and then, and then reduce the risk that they potentially go from animals to humans so, so again, just another great example of why diagnostic labs not only protect the health of animals, but also protect the health of humans. A great example that probably all of your listeners are aware of is a zoonotic disease called rabies. So rabies is an animal disease that can be transmitted from a rabid animal, whether it's a companion animal, or more likely, here in Iowa, a wildlife species, such as a bat, or something like that, we provide testing of animals that are might be are suspected of having rabies, so that we can detect that animal and help protect the human population that might be exposed to those animals as well.

[Yeager]  You've been at Iowa State since 2018. And again, other institutions that you've been at Cornell and Michigan State or Ohio State, you know, there's always that academic competition amongst others, but it from listening to you talk, yes, there's a little bit of competition, but it is so much more of a, I don't want to say fraternity in the bad sense of the word, but in the good sense of the word that you are working together and all trying to get to be better, faster, smarter and and help the the overall, the farmer who has the livestock, the vet who has the sick livestock that they're caring for Is that accurate.

[Grooms]  Paul, it's absolutely accurate, I mean, I as a veterinarian, and really the profession as a whole. I mean, we take an oath, we take an oath to protect the, you know, protect the health of animals and of the public. And so whether you're working in Iowa State or Michigan State, or Cornell or Ohio State, or you're working in a federal lab, or you're a private practitioner, working in Texas, or, or here in Iowa, our goal is to protect animal health. And then and then also human health and public health as well. And so we are a fraternity and we take that oath to do that. And it doesn't really matter where we're doing it. We're all trying to work together to make sure that we do our very best. We do our very best to meet what the oath that we take. 

[Yeager]  The students that are in their veterinary process right now in their schooling. They're in their graduate degree areas, they have come through the COVID area, era of study and academic life. Do you think that type of student is going to be better at this job than almost any other are more prepared to think completely out of the box? When it comes to diseases and diagnosing what's out there?

[Grooms]  Yeah, well, there is absolutely no doubt that they experienced something that most of our students who have graduated haven't had the chance to experience and that's really living through a pandemic. So they got, they had the opportunity to experience, you know, a large scale disease outbreak that had previously never been documented. And they had chance to see how there was a response to it, how, you know, tests were developed how vaccines were developed, you know, how, how there was policy developed, they had a chance to live that, you know, really the students that are graduating right now, that will graduate from our college, next week on Friday. We call them COVID babies because they started their schooling in the fall of 2020. So they lived it for really, five or six years, between their undergraduate years and then their training here. And I talked to him or our faculty about the facts of, of they should take those lessons learned from that human pandemic or that COVID outbreak and use that every day in their practices they go for so absolutely. Tht a unique experience that hopefully nobody else ever has, but likely will have someday.

[Yeager]  Just like are beginning part of the conversation about there's always the need for more football officials. There's always the need for more veterinarians, right.

[Grooms]  Yeah. So there is generally a shortage of veterinarians right now across the United States. And it's real in all areas of our profession, whether we're talking about large animal medicine or mixed animal practice, small animal practice, there's a shortage in specialty areas, you know, like, like people that do surgery or cardiology or something like that. And there's also a shortage working within our state and federal agencies. So here in Iowa, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship are in need of veterinarians. So, we do have a shortage of veterinarians across the United States right now. There's lots of efforts going on to try to correct that. But it's going to take a while. And but but but certainly, we as universities are working on that. But there's also other efforts to try to solve this problem as we speak today.

[Yeager]  And lastly, who are your students that are coming in to be vets? Are they changed over time?

[Grooms]  Well, so first of all, our students are outstanding, they're, they're bright, young people. They're motivated, they're passionate about taking care of animals and also protecting humans. And I just really, really love our students, our students at Iowa State come from, from Iowa, a large percentage of them, but they also come from across the United States, the class that just entered this year, back in the fall of 2023, come from 26 Different states, and, and one US territory, Puerto Rico, and then a couple of foreign countries. So they really come from across the United States and around the world. You know, our, you know, similar to every other College of Veterinary Medicine across the United States, our population, our students are primarily female now about 80%, female and 20%. Male that's much different than when I went to veterinary school 35 years ago when it was more 5050. So we have a higher population of females, but they're great students. They're smart, they're motivated, they're dedicated to their profession, and I can't wait to graduate 160 of them this coming Friday. And I'm pretty sure that every one of them has a job or job offer and if they don't have an offer, or they don't have a job, they're looking because there's lots of opportunities out there right now.

[Yeager]  They're studying that's what they're doing

[Grooms]  that well, that could be too so and, and they do a great job. So

[Yeager]  All right, Dr. Dan Grooms, I appreciate your time. Thank you so very much.

[Grooms] Thank you, Paul. I appreciate it.

[Yeager]  My thanks to Dave Olson at Iowa State University for helping make technical sides of this happen also technical mixing at Iowa PBS where this podcast is produced. David Feingold, Sean Ingrassia, Kevin Rivers production supervisor is Chad Aubrey, the executive producer of Market to Market is David Miller. I'm Paul Yeager, your host and producer of this podcast. If you have feedback for me, hit me up at MarkettoMarket@IowaPBS.ORG. New episode comes out next Tuesday in audio and video form. We'll see you then. Bye bye.