Non-Human Primate Medicine
Melanie Ammersbach
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
(see also: Pathology/Virology, Wildlife/Exotic Animal Medicine/Zoonoses)
Not accepting students for 2026
Dr. Ammersbach is a veterinary clinical pathologist with a special interest in non-traditional species. The areas of expertise of clinical pathologists include clinical chemistry, hematology and cytology. Non-traditional species include exotic pets, zoo animals, wildlife and laboratory animals.
There are many potential projects, including several collaborations with other faculty members, such as: 1. A collaboration with the primate center and Dr. Olstad to evaluate neutrophil morphology with inflammation (retrospective study), and cerebrospinal fluid analysis findings (retrospective and prospective) and their association with a number of diseases. 2. A collaboration with Dr. Van Hoy on a project validating and establishing normal reference intervals for blood gases and coagulation tests in pet minipigs and 3. A collaboration with Dr. Beaufrere documenting lipoproteins in birds (including cockatiels and flamingoes) using high resolution lipoprotein electrophoresis.
STAR students will explore projects in the field of clinical pathology (hematology, biochemistry or cytology) of non-traditional species (exotics, wildlife, laboratory animals).
Feel free to reach out at mammersbach@ucdavis.edu for more information.
Faculty Bio
Lisa Miller, PhD
Immunology, respiratory, pediatric
California National Primate Research Center
(See also: Pulmonary Medicine, Pharmacology/Toxicology)
Dr. Miller's research program is focused on understanding the relationship between early life environmental exposures, immunity and chronic disease. We study how mucosal and systemic immunity is established during infancy, and determine the impact of air pollutants, allergens, and infectious disease on childhood health. A major emphasis has been in the elucidation of mechanisms for immune susceptibility that lead to pediatric airways dysfunction, which may ultimately lead to generation of new diagnostics and preventative medicine.
Currently funded projects for next year will focus on the early life effects of wildfire smoke on the developing lung, using a rodent model and in vitro models. We will use experimental wood smoke exposure as a surrogate for wildfire smoke.
Dr. Miller can be reached via email.
Glenn Yiu, MD, PhD
Med: Ophthalmology & Vision Science
(See also: Ophthalmology/Ocular Biology, Translational Research/Regenerative Medicine)
Dr. Yiu is a clinician-scientist and vitreoretinal surgeon at the UC Davis Medical Center who uses advanced ocular imaging technologies to study diseases of the eye. Examples include optical coherence tomography (OCT), which allows visualization of retinal pathology in vivo with near-histological details. OCT imaging allows physicians to identify age-related or pathologic changes in the structure of the retina or vasculature, particularly in diseases such as age-related macular degeneration in humans, the leading cause of blindness in the elderly.
Through collaborations with veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Sara Thomasy, they are now using OCT technology to study retinal anatomy in rhesus macaques at the California National Primate Research Center.
STAR students will participate in a project related to retinal imaging in rhesus macaque models of age-related macular degeneration. This study will involve learning to custom ocular imaging analysis, histology, and immunohistochemistry, to understand the pathophysiology of the leading cause of blindness in the elderly using this nonhuman primate model.
More details about Dr. Yiu are available at: https://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/eyecenter/yiulab/index.html
Contact Dr. Yiu: gyiu@ucdavis.edu