Kurt Vandegrift
Associate Professor
Research Summary
Disease ecology with an emphasis on the population dynamics of zoonotic parasites and reservoir hosts.
Huck Affiliations
Links
Most Recent Publications
Population genomic structure of a widespread, urban-dwelling mammal: The eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis)
Nicole A. Fusco, Bradley J. Cosentino, James P. Gibbs, Maximilian L. Allen, Alexander J. Blumenfeld, George H. Boettner, Elizabeth J. Carlen, Merri Collins, Catherine Dennison, Devin DiGiacopo, André Philippe Drapeau Picard, Jonathan Edmonson, M. Caitlin Fisher-Reid, Rebecca Fyffe, Travis Gallo, Alannah Grant, William Harbold, Stephen B. Heard, Diana J.R. Lafferty, Richard M. Lehtinen, Shealyn Marino, John E. McDonald, Alessio Mortelliti, Maureen Murray, Amy Newman, Krista N. Oswald, Caitlin Ott-Conn, Jonathan L. Richardson, Rebecca Rimbach, Paul Salaman, Michael Steele, Mason R. Stothart, Mark C. Urban, Kurt Vandegrift, John P. Vanek, Sean N. Vanderluit, Lucie Vezina, Adalgisa Caccone, 2024, Molecular Ecology
Multiple spillovers from humans and onward transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer
Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Meera Surendran-Nair, R Ruden, M Yon, R Nissly, Kurt J. Vandegrift, R Nelli, Lingling Li, Bhushan Jayarao, Costas D. Maranas, N Levine, K Willgert, Andrew J.K. Conlan, Conlan AJK, R Olsen, J Davis, J Musser, Peter John Hudson, Vivek Kapur, 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Transmission history of SARS-CoV-2 in humans and white-tailed deer
Katriina Willgert, X Didelot, Meera Surendran-Nair, Suresh V. Kuchipudi, R Ruden, M Yon, R Nissly, Kurt J. Vandegrift, R Nelli, L Li, Bhushan M. Jayarao, N Levine, R Olsen, J Davis, J Musser, P Hudson, Vivek Kapur, Conlan AJK, Andrew J.K. Conlan, 2022, Scientific Reports on p. 12094
Development and Validation of Indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays for Detecting Antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in Cattle, Swine, and Chicken
Kurt Vandegrift, Abhinay Gontu, Erika Marlin, Santhamani Ramasamy, Sabarinath Neerukonda, Gayatri Anil, Jasmine Morgan, Meysoon Quraishi, C Chen, Veda Boorla, Ruth Nissly, Padmaja Jakka, Shubhada Chothe, Abirami Ravichandran, Nishitha Kodali, Saranya Amirthalingam, Lindsey LaBella, Kathleen Kelly, Pazhanivel Natesan, Allen Minns, Randall Rossi, Jacob R. Werner, Ernest Hovingh, Scott E. Lindner, Deepanker Tewari, Vivek Kapur, K Vandegrift, Costas Maranas, Meera Nair, M Surendran Nair, Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Kuchipudi, Suresh, V, 2022, Viruses
A molecular reconstruction of holarctic Heligmosomidae reveals a new species of Heligmosomoides (Nematoda: Heligmosomidae) in Peromyscus maniculatus (Neotominae) from Canada
Haitham Alnaqeb, Stephen E. Greiman, Kurt J. Vandegrift, Mariel L. Campbell, Shawn Meagher, F. Agustín Jiménez, 2022, Systematics and Biodiversity on p. 1-19
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) Infection of Wild White-Tailed Deer in New York City
Kurt Vandegrift, Michele Yon, Surendran Nair, Meera, M Surendran Nair, Abhinay Gontu, Santhamani Ramasamy, Saranya Amirthalingam, Sabarinath Neerukonda, Ruth Nissly, Shubhada Chothe, Padmaja Jakka, Lindsey LaBella, Nicole Levine, Sophie Rodriguez, C Chen, Sheersh Boorla, Veda, V Sheersh Boorla, Tod Stuber, Jason Boulanger, Nathan Kotschwar, Sarah Aucoin, Richard Simon, Katrina Toal, Randall Olsen, J Davis, Dashzeveg Bold, Natasha Gaudreault, Dinali Perera, Krishani, K Dinali Perera, Yunjeong Kim, Kyeong-Ok Chang, Costas Maranas, Juergen Richt, James Musser, P Hudson, Vivek Kapur, Suresh V. Kuchipudi, 2022, Viruses on p. 13
Computational prediction of the effect of amino acid changes on the binding affinity between SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and human ACE2
Chen Chen, Veda Sheersh Boorla, Deepro Banerjee, Ratul Chowdhury, Victoria S. Cavener, Ruth H. Nissly, Abhinay Gontu, Nina R. Boyle, Kurt Vandegrift, Meera Surendran Nair, Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Costas D. Maranas, 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Species-Level Profiling of Ixodes pacificus Bacterial Microbiomes Reveals High Variability across Short Spatial Scales at Different Taxonomic Resolutions
Kayla M. Socarras, Joshua P. Earl, Jaroslaw E. Krol, Archana Bhat, Max Pabilonia, Meghan H. Harrison, Steven P. Lang, Bhaswati Sen, Azad Ahmed, Michael Hester, Joshua Chang Mell, Kurt Vandegrift, Garth D. Ehrlich, 2021, Genetic Testing on p. 551-562
Rodent virus diversity and differentiation across post-katrina new orleans
Anna C. Peterson, Himanshu Sharma, Arvind Kumar, Bruno M. Ghersi, Scott J. Emrich, Kurt J. Vandegrift, Amit Kapoor, Michael J. Blum, 2021, Sustainability
Presence of segmented flavivirus infections in North America
Kurt Vandegrift, Arvind Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Satyapramod Murthy, Laura Kramer, Richard Ostfeld, Peter Hudson, Amit Kapoor, 2020, Emerging Infectious Diseases on p. 1810-1817
Most-Cited Papers
Multiple spillovers from humans and onward transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer
Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Meera Surendran-Nair, R Ruden, M Yon, R Nissly, Kurt J. Vandegrift, R Nelli, Lingling Li, Bhushan Jayarao, Costas D. Maranas, N Levine, K Willgert, Andrew J.K. Conlan, Conlan AJK, R Olsen, J Davis, J Musser, Peter John Hudson, Vivek Kapur, 2022, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Computational prediction of the effect of amino acid changes on the binding affinity between SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD and human ACE2
Chen Chen, Veda Sheersh Boorla, Deepro Banerjee, Ratul Chowdhury, Victoria S. Cavener, Ruth H. Nissly, Abhinay Gontu, Nina R. Boyle, Kurt Vandegrift, Meera Surendran Nair, Suresh V. Kuchipudi, Costas D. Maranas, 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Towards an eco-phylogenetic framework for infectious disease ecology
Nicholas M. Fountain-Jones, William D. Pearse, Luis E. Escobar, Ana Alba-Casals, Scott Carver, T. Jonathan Davies, Simona Kraberger, Monica Papeş, Kurt Vandegrift, Katherine Worsley-Tonks, Meggan E. Craft, 2018, Biological Reviews on p. 950-970
Viral persistence, liver disease, and host response in a hepatitis C–like virus rat model
Sheetal Trivedi, Satyapramod Murthy, Himanshu Sharma, Alex S. Hartlage, Arvind Kumar, Sashi V. Gadi, Peter Simmonds, Lokendra V. Chauhan, Troels K.H. Scheel, Eva Billerbeck, Peter D. Burbelo, Charles M. Rice, W. Ian Lipkin, Kurt Vandegrift, John M. Cullen, Amit Kapoor, 2018, Hepatology on p. 435-448
The ecology of new constituents of the tick virome and their relevance to public health
Kurt J. Vandegrift, Amit Kapoor, 2019, Viruses
Bird migration and avian influenza: A comparison of hydrogen stable isotopes and satellite tracking methods
Eli S. Bridge, Jeffrey F. Kelly, Xiangming Xiao, John Y. Takekawa, Nichola J. Hill, Mat Yamage, Enam Ul Haque, Mohammad Anwarul Islam, Taej Mundkur, Kiraz Erciyas Yavuz, Paul Leader, Connie Y.H. Leung, Bena Smith, Kyle A. Spragens, Kurt J. Vandegrift, Parviez R. Hosseini, Samia Saif, Samiul Mohsanin, Andrea Mikolon, Ausrafal Islam, Acty George, Balachandran Sivananinthaperumal, Peter Daszak, Scott H. Newman, 2014, Ecological Indicators on p. 266-273
MIReAD, a minimum information standard for reporting arthropod abundance data
Samuel S.C. Rund, Kyle Braak, Lauren Cator, Kyle Copas, Scott J. Emrich, Gloria I. Giraldo-Calderón, Michael A. Johansson, Naveed Heydari, Donald Hobern, Sarah A. Kelly, Daniel Lawson, Cynthia Lord, Robert M. MacCallum, Dominique G. Roche, Sadie J. Ryan, Dmitry Schigel, Kurt Vandegrift, Matthew Watts, Jennifer M. Zaspel, Samraat Pawar, 2019, Scientific data
Influenza C and D viral load in cattle correlates with bovine respiratory disease (BRD): Emerging role of orthomyxoviruses in the pathogenesis of BRD
Ruth Nissly, Noriza Zaman, Ibrahim, Puteri Ainaa S., Puteri Ainaa S. Ibrahim, Ibrahim PAS, Kaitlin McDaniel, Levina Lim, Jennifer Kiser, Ian Bird, Shubhada Chothe, Gitanjali Bhushan, Kurt Vandegrift, Holly Neibergs, Kuchipudi, Suresh, V, Suresh V. Kuchipudi, 2020, Virology on p. 10-15
Presence of segmented flavivirus infections in North America
Kurt Vandegrift, Arvind Kumar, Himanshu Sharma, Satyapramod Murthy, Laura Kramer, Richard Ostfeld, Peter Hudson, Amit Kapoor, 2020, Emerging Infectious Diseases on p. 1810-1817
Bank voles (Myodes glareolus) and house mice (Mus musculus musculus; M. m. domesticus) in Europe are each parasitized by their own distinct species of Aspiculuris (Nematoda, Oxyurida)
J. M. Behnke, A. Stewart, A. Bajer, M. Grzybek, P. D. Harris, A. Lowe, A. Ribas, L. Smales, Kurt Vandegrift, 2015, Parasitology on p. 1493-1505
News Articles Featuring Kurt Vandegrift
Apr 29, 2024
Virus Gone Wild
An ambitious U.S.project aims to sample more than 50 animal species to clarify how the COVID-19 virus moves between people and wildlife.
Full Article
Sep 13, 2023
Testing 58 wildlife species for SARS-CoV-2 among goals of $4.5M USDA grant
A team of researchers has received a $4.5 million grant to test wild animals for SARS-CoV-2 with a goal of monitoring for potential spillback to humans.
Full Article
Feb 16, 2022
COVID-19 May Be Widespread in Deer
An analysis by Penn State and Iowa researchers found that Covid-19 may be fairly widespread among white-tailed deer. Up to 80 percent of the deer sampled in Iowa from April 2020 through January 2021 were infected with COVID-19. And The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed Covid infections in deer in 15 states total.
Full Article
Feb 10, 2022
Omicron-Infected Whitetail Deer Detected in New York
The first cases of whitetail deer carrying the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus have been discovered in Staten Island, New York. Researchers there report that 19 of 131 deer sampled between December 12, 2021, and Janauary 31, 2022, tested positive for the virus’ antibodies, indicating prior exposure to the coronavirus. PCR (polymerase chain reaction) nasal swab testing of 68 deer revealed that seven were actively infected, with at least four of those confirmed to be Omicron.
Full Article
Nov 03, 2021
Deer may be reservoir for SARS-CoV-2, study finds
The findings of a study by Penn State and Iowa researchers suggest that white-tailed deer may be a reservoir for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to continually circulate, and raises concerns of emergence of new strains that may prove a threat to wildlife and, possibly, to humans.
Full Article
Sep 29, 2021
New tool predicts changes that may make COVID variants more infectious
The first key step in SARS-CoV-2 infection is when the virus’ spike protein binds to the ACE2 receptor on human cells. Researchers at Penn State have created a novel framework that can predict with reasonable accuracy the amino-acid changes in the virus’ spike protein that may improve its binding to human cells and confer increased infectivity to the virus.
Full Article