Species Specific Antisera and Positive and Negative Control of

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Garcia, Jorge L. AWARDEE ORGANIZATION: Berkeley Antibody Company 4131 Lakeside Drive, Suite B Richmond, CA 94806-1965 TELEPHONE NUMBER: (510) 222-4940 AWARDEE NUMBER: 200-93-0609 A number of wildlife species are natural reservoirs for zoonotic disease pathogens in the U. S. Many of the serologic tests currently conducted on wildlife species, particularly ELISA, use animal conjugates developed for domestic animals. Data about wildlife species generated with assays using such heterologous reagents can leave questions about the validity of the results. In addition, there are few known positive and negative sera available for the various wildlife species and disease pathogens. The development of a bank of antisera against the important disease reservoir species and known control sera against the significant zoonotic disease in the U. S. would allow public health investigators at CDC, NIH, and USDA state health and animal agencies, and universities to conduct appropriate serologic tests on wildlife species and properly interpret the results. These antisera and sera could also be used for insect blood meal identification. In the Phase I effort, we plan to develop polyclonal antibodies against immunoglobulins and other blood proteins from a variety of wildlife species which potentially harbor various zoonotic diseases. In addition, we will begin to assemble a bank of positive and negative control reagents from the various host species. In Phase II, we will continue to produce polyclonal antibodies but will also expand the program to include production of monoclonal antibodies as well, and will develop controlled assays to monitor for infection of various species with these diseases.