COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – As the nation prepares for Thanksgiving, a Texas A&M undergraduate student is part of a research breakthrough that could help protect the turkey industry from a devastating disease.
Leila Chang helped develop the first-ever three-dimensional model of a turkey gut. It’s a laboratory tool researchers say will allow them to study and fight blackhead disease outside of live birds.
Leila Chang, 21, helped create the first-ever 3-D mini turkey gut model, which could revolutionize the poultry industry.(kbtx)
Blackhead disease, caused by a tiny parasite that attacks the bird’s gut, can spread rapidly through a flock.
Texas A&M AgriLife reports it has a death rate that can reach as high as 80%. Researchers have struggled for decades to study the disease safely because there has been no reliable way to observe it without using live birds.
Blackhead disease, caused by a tiny parasite that attacks a turkey’s gut, can spread rapidly through a flock and be deadly.(kbtx)
“We isolated the mini gut on a Petri dish. It’s called an in vitro model where you isolate it on a test tube versus on a live bird, and so this is super important because nobody else has been able to do this yet,” Chang said.
The model was developed with help from Chang’s faculty advisor, Dr. Farnell, in Texas A&M’s Department of Poultry Science.
AgriLife officials said the 3D system makes it possible to detect and analyze blackhead infections in a controlled environment, reducing the risk of contamination and allowing scientists to test vaccines and treatments without harming birds.
Texas A&M undergrad helped create the first 3‑D model of a turkey gut, allowing researchers to study and fight blackhead disease, protecting the turkey industry
“People are able to study the parasites safely and then they’re able to just use and test on these without actually harming the birds in real life,” Chang said.
An animal science major, Chang said her interest in agriculture began in middle school when she raised turkeys, participated in Future Farmers of America and poultry judging.
Leila Chang, when she participated in Future Farmers of America back in middle school.(kbtx)
Now an undergraduate, she said she is proud to be contributing to research that could help stabilize turkey production.
“Ultimately, benefits the consumers by just keeping turkey production stable so people can have turkeys for Thanksgiving,” Chang said.
Texas A&M AgriLife said the new model could speed the development of vaccines and other interventions and provide poultry scientists with a long-awaited, safer method to study blackhead disease.
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