William J. Todd

Dr. Todd is jointly appointed with the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Parasitology in the School of Veterinary Medicine and the Department of Veterinary Science in the LSU Agricultural Center.  His advanced training includes postdoctoral studies at the Harvard School for Public Health, a fellowship program to attend the NATO Advanced Study Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, and research with the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases as a senior staff fellow.

Research Interests

One of his principle research interests is to develop vaccines capable of preventing clinical diseases caused by obligate intracellular bacteria.  Successful collaborative research on Anaplasma marginale, the causative agent of anaplasmosis, an important blood disease of cattle, has led to the production of an effective commercially produced vaccine to prevent this disease.  A second research interest is to improve our ability to detect the presence of these and other pathogens through development of unique methods to detect both pathogen-specific antigens and antibodies under field conditions.  This research effort is generating unique contributions to this field of study.  His efforts in applied research have led to the issuing of three United States patents, with two others pending.  In addition some atypical applications of his research were recently described as Current topics of ASM News, 1999, vol. 63:  129-130.  He also co-edited a book, Ultrastructure Techniques for Microorganisms and teaches in his specialty areas in the veterinary curriculum and in the LSU graduate and preveterinary programs.

Selected Publications

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