Note: this post was originally run with the headline: Read documents for Monday's MN House Environment & Natural Resources CWD hearing.
Update #2:
Here's the Minnesota Information Services' YouTube of the hearing:
And a press release from the University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota researchers develop novel, field-deployable test for CWD:
University of Minnesota researchers at the Minnesota Center for Prion Research (MNPRO) have developed a novel approach to field testing chronic wasting disease (CWD). The team confirmed their findings in southeast Minnesota the week of March 8, 2021, making them the first-ever scientists to successfully deploy a CWD field test.
There are limited testing options available for CWD, leading scientists to investigate several new approaches with the hopes of obstructing the disease’s spread. Last spring, the MNPRO team worked with the Minnesota DNR to analyze tissue samples from CWD-positive white-tailed deer using a technique known as RT-QuIC. The team managed to obtain confirmation of protein-misfolding in just nine hours with that approach. Only a handful of labs currently have access to this top-of-the-line technology for CWD testing.
Now, the MNPRO researchers have developed a new assay that generates a color change of red for a positive CWD result and blue for negative. They have named the test “MN-QuIC” to honor the state of Minnesota, where the test was developed.
“MN-QuIC uses nanoparticles to identify CWD prions in tissue samples. It is the product of an intense multi-disciplinary research effort that united scientists across the University of Minnesota,” says Peter Larsen, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and co-director of MNPRO. He says the new test is also a lot cheaper than those using traditional equipment and uses field-deployable equipment to garner preliminary results in just 24 hours. “We have performed over one hundred confirmatory tests in our MNPRO lab and this was our first field-deployment. We will continue to validate MN-QuIC over the coming months and plan additional field deployments this fall.”
The team is striving for a test that could be set-up at individual stations statewide, cutting down on testing bottlenecks. “This would help prevent CWD prions from entering our food supply,” Larsen says, “and would be an important step forward in the fight against CWD.”
CWD originated roughly 50 years ago and affects white-tailed deer, mule deer, red deer, sika deer, caribou, reindeer, elk, and moose — all animals known as “cervids.” The transmissible neurological disease produces small lesions in an animal’s brain and ultimately results in abnormal behavior, weight loss, loss of bodily functions, and death. While it is yet unknown whether the disease can spread to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against eating meat from CWD-infected animals. In 2020, both the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared CWD-positive venison unfit for human or animal consumption, listing the meat as an adulterated product.
CWD is spread by misfolded prion proteins, which also cause scrapie in sheep, bovine spongiform encephalopathy in cattle (sometimes called “mad cow disease”), and sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans. CWD-causing prions are not alive and can only be destroyed with specialized equipment or strong chemicals, which is what makes CWD so difficult to mitigate. They can also persist in the environment for years. Advances made on CWD could inform other prion-related diseases in humans and animals alike.
The field team was composed of Larsen; Peter Christenson, a graduate student in the UMN College of Science and Engineering who envisioned this new testing method; Manci Li, a PhD student in the CVM; Marc Schwabenlander, MPH, chronic wasting disease research program and outreach manager at MNPRO; and Tiffany Wolf, DVM, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine at the CVM and co-director of MNPRO. The scientists also spent the trip collecting environmental samples from areas impacted by CWD and connecting with partners in nearby Amish communities to identify culturally-appropriate CWD management strategies.
“This project is a shining example of bringing bipartisan support in the legislature, scientists, state agencies, and private landowners together to find solutions that support everyone’s needs,” Larsen says. “This is exactly how a land grant institution should function.”
This research was supported by the MN Agricultural Experiment Station Rapid Ag Response Fund and Environment and Natural Resource Trust Fund, as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. Additionally, various entities at the University of Minnesota have provided support, including the CVM’s Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, the Office for the Vice President of Research, and the College more broadly, which also houses MNPRO. The research team works closely with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on multiple aspects of CWD research.
end update #2
Update: So far, only the audio for the hearing is available; listen here.
Some big news:
Just announced this morning: @UMN_MNPRO has new developed 24-hour field test for #CWD 🦌 Groundbreaking research and developments thanks to supporting the U of M and ENTRF funds. This is why we need to pass the LCCMR bill and put those tax dollars to work.
— Jamie Becker-Finn (@jbeckerfinn) April 19, 2021
On Thursday, we posted in Concerned about CWD in MN deer? Learn about new research from MNPRO's Peter Larsen:
On Monday morning, 8:30 a.m. the Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy will hold an informational hearing:
"Update from Dr. Peter Larsen at the University of Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach on chronic wasting disease research."
Documents outlining Larsen's work at MNPRO have been posted at the committee's website and we embed one of them below.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' 2021 CWD Proposed Surveillance six-slide presentation is also posted on the committee page. Included in the presentation? The slide at the top of this is the Addition--Beltrami County Surveillance.
While we posted about the discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease on a Beltrami County deer farm in BAH: Southern Minnesota CWD investigation identifies new infection in Beltrami County.
At the Star Tribune, Tony Kennedy went into much more depth about the significance of this development in CWD reaches a new northern limit with discovery of deer disease in Beltrami County:
The latest confirmed spread of chronic wasting disease has taken the dreaded deer threat as far north as it's ever been found in Minnesota, to an area northeast of Bemidji where tribal hunting is now at increased risk for CWD.
State officials earlier this month confirmed that the contagious and always fatal neurological disease in deer, elk and moose was discovered in a dead, commercialized white-tailed deer inside the fence of a farm recently cited for a record-keeping violation. The animal was acquired in 2019 from the same deer farm in Winona County that sourced another CWD-positive deer. That animal was living at a deer farm in Houston County when the disease was detected five months ago. . . .
While the state Board of Animal Health works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to rid the Beltrami County farm of all deer, the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is collaborating with Ojibwe fish and game leaders to mitigate the risk of CWD spreading into the area's wild deer herd. For many Red Lake, Leech Lake and White Earth band members, wild venison is an important food source. Health officials advise people not to eat meat from a CWD-infected animal.
"What has heightened this a lot is the sovereignty of three tribal nations," said Michelle Carstensen, the DNR's top wildlife scientist.
She said the DNR met this week with tribal biologists to begin crafting a plan to utilize hunters to sample wild deer during the fall harvest. Also coming will be a ban throughout Beltrami County to stop public feeding of deer — a practice that scientists believe congregates the animals in ways that increase the threat of CWD spreading.
The infected farm is within the boundaries of Ojibwe-ceded territory where tribal members still maintain hunting and fishing rights. Red Lake and Leech Lake reservation lands lie within a 15-mile radius of the infected farm, which is located between Blackduck and Tenstrike. The circle around an infected farm is traditionally the area most watched by the DNR for CWD detections. White Earth land is further away but within the possible range for surveillance and mitigation that is estimated to cost Minnesota taxpayers nearly $1 million over the next three years. . . .
State Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, DFL- Roseville, a Leech Lake Ojibwe descendant who hunts deer with family members in areas now poised for CWD surveillance, said Minnesota's fight against the deer disease is burdened by a regulatory agency that is too "buddy buddy" with deer farmers. The industry itself, she said, is in denial about the threat it poses to the state's invaluable wild deer herd.
"You've now allowed it to spread to two tribal nations," said Becker-Finn, who sits on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee. "A lot of people who live there depend on venison as a food source."
She said the disease might not spread beyond the infected deer farm, but an outbreak could raise the potential for a lawsuit.
"The right to hunt means nothing if you can't eat what you hunt," Becker-Finn said. . . .
Read the entire article at the Star Tribune.
The Documents
Here's the Larsen slideshow:
Larsen 4/19 U of M Presentation for MN House Environment Committee uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
The second document, the 30-page Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach Wet lab and field research update: July 2019 - April 2021 can be downloaded from the committee's page.
Finally, the DNR's proposed CWD surveillance plan for 2021:
Proposed CWD Surveillance Areas for 2021 by uploaded by Sally Jo Sorensen on Scribd
Related posts:
- Concerned about CWD in MN deer? Learn about new research from MNPRO's Peter Larsen
- BAH: Southern Minnesota CWD investigation identifies new infection in Beltrami County
- Some of the science at the center of Update on Chronic Wasting Disease Efforts hearing
- VIDEO: MNHouse passes bill for process to extend funding for ENRTF projects for one year
- Session Daily: Experts want to study how CWD flows in state's waterways
- Sen. Andrew Lang seems behind the curve on current funding & progress of CWD test research
- VIDEO: University of Minnesota scientists share CWD research, search for test with lawmakers
- Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund plan from U of M for CWD diagnostic test
- Peter Larsen slideshow: Development of Advanced Diagnostic Tests for CWD by U of M
Screengrab: DNR's map of Beltrami County CWD Surveillance area.
If you appreciate Bluestem Prairie, you can mail contributions (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, 600 Maple Street, Summit SD 57266) or use the paypal button in the upper right hand corner of this post. Those wishing to make a small ongoing monthly contribution should click on the paypal subscription button.
Or you can contribute via this link to paypal; use email sally.jo.sorensen@gmail.com as recipient.
NEW: I'm now on Venmo for those who prefer to use this service: @Sally-Sorensen-6
Comments