MizzouForward Keynote: Tick-borne Rickettsial Disease Research Program: Building the Bridge from Basic Research to Application and Future Perspectives

April 25th | 10:30am – 11:30am

Monsanto Auditorium (Bond Life Sciences Center) or  ZOOM

Join us for “Tick-borne Rickettsial Disease Research Program: Building the Bridge from Basic Research to Application and Future Perspectives” a keynote presentation by Dr. Roman Ganta, College of Veterinary Medicine MizzouForward faculty candidate.  Dr. Ganta will present on his research for 40-minutes with a 20-minute question and answer session to follow.

Dr. Roman Ganta, University Distinguished Professor at Kansas State University (K-State), has over three decades of research experience focused on important human and animal vector-borne diseases. He has an internationally well-recognized research program on various tick-borne rickettsial diseases of people, companion animals and food animals caused by pathogens of the genera Ehrlichia, Anaplasma and Rickettsia. Dr. Ganta generated about $20 million of research support from various competitive funding agencies since 1998 at K-State with the lion’s share of support coming from the NIH.  He has been continuously funded by the NIH since 2002.  He currently has three active NIH R01 grants to investigate Ehrlichia chaffeensis pathogenesis and vaccine development against rickettsial diseases caused by Ehrlichia and Anaplasma species as well as against Rocky Mountain spotted fever caused by Rickettsia rickettsii.  Ganta has established the Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne diseases (CEVBD) in 2015 at the College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University to further advance the vector-borne disease research program; he has been serving as the founding director to CEVBD since its establishment. His team investigates rickettsial pathogenesis, mutagenesis, gene regulation and vaccine research.  He pioneered in developing targeted mutagenesis in obligate rickettsial pathogens and animal models mimicking infections in natural hosts, which have been greatly aiding in advancing basic and applied research goals. 

Dr. Ganta earned his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, India, his M.Sc. in Biochemistry and B.Sc in Biology and Chemistry from Andhra University in Visakhapatnam, India. 

You can access Dr. Ganta’s CV via OneDrive here:

 Roman Ganta Detailed CV April 5, 2022.pdf (University log in required to access)

After the keynote, please provide candidate feedback with our brief survey.

MizzouForward is a transformational effort to strengthen innovation in research to improve lives around the world—and it all begins with the right people. By attracting exceptional researchers and further developing our talented faculty, MizzouForward will set us apart as one of the best research universities in the nation. Learn more about MizzouForward and see other upcoming keynotes.