Malayer Named McCasland Foundation Endowed Chair in Food Animal Research

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences is proud to announce that Jerry Malayer, Ph.D., has been named the McCasland Foundation Endowed Chair in Food Animal Research. The appointment was approved during a recent OSU/A&M Board of Regents meeting. Malayer is the veterinary center’s associate dean for research and graduate education and professor in the Department of Physiological Sciences. He is also an adjunct professor with OSU’s Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

“The endowed chairs are great professional recognition,” said Malayer. “It really constitutes an investment in our college by the sponsor. Obviously, every dollar is a precious resource and so, to me, the chair represents a responsibility to do something meaningful with the resource.”

Malayer’s research focuses on infectious disease processes, diagnostics, therapeutics and mitigation at the cell and molecular level. In the lab, his team is developing new therapeutic approaches to problems in infectious disease and working with sponsors to extend their work on diagnostics and mitigation strategies.

“The Chair will make it easier to support our overall effort,” he added. “My idea from the beginning is to use the resources to support program development, not just for the lab, but for the college as well. Immediately, the resources from the Chair will support personnel development and the establishment of collaborations. We are trying to establish a new Center for Integrative Microbiome Science. Microbiome refers to the collection of genomes of microbes in a system. There is tremendous potential in understanding the interactions of microbes with plants and animals. For example, we might identify new antimicrobials or new ways to understand how the environment, including diet, impacts the health of livestock. New understanding of host-pathogen interactions presents new therapeutics targets.”

Malayer earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from Purdue University. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Florida and was a postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Wisconsin. He joined OSU’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences in 1994.

For more information on research at the veterinary center, visit the CVHS Research webpage.