Declan Kehlbeck, a sophomore in the Animal and Avian Sciences department was awarded two different scholarships for his research into developing avian lab materials to study the interaction of avian viruses with their hosts in Dr. Broadbent’s Virology Lab.
Kehlbeck first won the AGNR One Health Strategic Initiative Scholarship in 2022, followed by an AGNR Undergraduate Research Support award in 2023 to help develop avian intestinal organoids. Organoids are mini guts grown in the lab and used to study how avian enteric viruses replicate in them. He plans to use one of the scholarships to buy more laboratory supplies to continue his project and the other to attend the American Society for Virology (ASV) conference this summer to present his work.
“I am extremely proud of Declan's accomplishments. He is independently pursuing his own research projects in an important area, and it's great that he is being recognized with these awards,” said Dr. Broadbent; adding, “the lab recently received a Grand Challenges team award, together with other collaborators, to study how avian influenza interacts with chicken and duck intestinal organoids. Declan has been helping us to get this project off the ground. He is also evaluating the replication of other viruses in the system, for example avian reoviruses and rotaviruses.”
Congratulations to Declan Kehlbeck for his research honors and awards.
