Vaccine Development
Ellen E. Sparger, DVM, PhD is an Associate Adjunct Professor/Specialist in the Department of Medicine at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California Davis. She received her DVM at the College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia and completed her residency in small animal medicine at Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, gained experience in small animal practice, and was awarded Diplomate status in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
She later received her PhD in Comparative Pathology at the University of California Davis where her studies focused on the early characterization of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) in the laboratories of Drs. Niels Pedersen and Janet Yamamoto who first isolated the virus. She was involved in the initial molecular characterization of the viral genome and conducted leading studies on FIV gene functions in tissue culture systems and in infected cats to establish this viral infection as an animal for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Her FIV vaccine research that focused on attenuated proviral DNA vaccines with cytokine adjuvants was followed by examination of similar DNA vaccine approaches in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) rhesus macaque animal model for HIV. Her current research continues to focus on the use of animal models for testing of novel HIV vaccine approaches including an attenuated rhesus macaque cytomegalovirus mutant as a SIV vaccine vector.