Education

PhD, University of California, Davis, 1996

MS, University of California, Davis, 1991

BVSc, University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka), 1985

Certifications

Fellow, Sri Lanka College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Research Interest

Current research focuses on host-virus interactions and viral pathogenesis, molecular virology, and the development of improved diagnostic and prophylactic reagents for important veterinary and human viral pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. 

Teaching Interest

Veterinary Virology, Mechanisms of Viral Pathogenesis, One Health and Veterinary Diagnostic Medicine, and Emerging and Reemerging Viral Diseases of Humans and Animals. 

Clinical Interest

Infectious diseases

Awards & Honors

Fulbright Specialist, Fulbright Specialist Roster, Fulbright Scholar Program, U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) and World Learning, October 2020 – 2023

Jes & Clementine Schlaikjer Professor in Equine Infectious Diseases 2016 – 2018, Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

Wethington Award 2017, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment (CAFE), University of Kentucky (UK), Lexington, KY, USA

Wethington Award 2014, 2015, and 2016, CAFÉ, UK, Lexington, KY, USA

Selected be a Founder Fellow of the Sri Lanka College of Veterinary Surgeons (SLCVS) 2015 by the executive council

Bobby C. Pass Excellence in Grantsmanship Award 2014, College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

Fulbright Scholar 1989 – 1991: Residency Training in Diagnostic Pathology and MS Degree in Comparative Pathology (Non-Thesis; UC Davis)

Obtained the highest aggregate in the third (1983) and final (1985) BVSc examinations  

Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Health Scholarship 1985 (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka)

Pfizer Scholarship 1984/85 (University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka) 

Publications

Hall, J. S.,  Knowles, S., Nashold, S. W., Ip, H. S., Leon, A., Rocke, T., Keller, S., Carossino, M., Balasuriya, U. B. R., and Hofmeister, E.  2021.  Experimental challenge of a North American bat species, big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), with SARS-CoV-2.  Transbound. Emerg. Dis. 68(6):3443-3452. doi: 10.1111/tbed.13949. Online ahead of print.PMID: 33295095

Carossino, M., Bauer, R., Mitchell, M. A., Cummings, C. O., Stöhr, A. C., Wakamatsua, N., Harper, K., Langohr, I. M., Schultz, K., Mitchell, M. S., Howe, D. K., and *Balasuriya, U. B. R.  2021.  Pathological and immunohistochemical findings during an outbreak of systemic toxoplasmosis in a mob of red kangaroos.  J. Vet. Diagn. Invest. 33(3):554-565, doi: 10.1177/10406387211001869. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Tyson, G.H., Ceric, O., Guag, J., Nemser, S., Borenstein, S., Slavic, D., Lippert, S., McDowell, R., Krishnamurthy, A., Korosec, S., Friday, C., Pople, N., Saab, M. E., Fairbrother, J.H., Janelle, I., McMillan, D., Bommineni, Y. R., Simon, D., Mohan, S., Sanchez, S., Phillips, A., Bartlett, P., Naikare, H., Watson, C., Sahin, O., Stinman, C., Wang, L., Maddox, C., DeShambo, V., Hendrix, K., Lubelski, D., Burklund, A., Lubbers, B,, Reed, D., Jenkins, T., Erol, E., Patel, M., Locke, S., Fortner, J., Peak, L., Balasuriya, U. B. R., Mani, R., Kettler, N., Olsen, K., Zhang, S., Shen, Z., Landinez, M. P., Thornton, J. K., Thachil, A., Byrd, M., Jacob, M., Krogh, D., Webb, B., Schaan, L.., Patil, A., Dasgupta, S., Mann, S., Goodman, L. B., Franklin-Guild, R. J., Anderson, R. R., Mitchell, P. K., Cronk, B. D., Aprea, M., Cui, J., Jurkovic, D., Prarat, M., Zhang, Y., Shiplett, K., Campos, D. D., Rubio, J. V. B., Ramanchandran, A., Talent, S., Tewari, D., Thirumalapura, N., Kelly, D., Barnhart, D., Hall, L., Rankin, S., Dietrich, J., Cole, S., Scaria, J., Antony, L, Lawhon, S. D., Wu, J., McCoy, C., Dietz, K., Wolking, R., Alexander, T., Burbick, C., Reimschuessel, R..  2021.  Genomics accurately predicts antimicrobial resistance in Staphylococcus pseudintermedius collected as part of Vet-LIRN resistance monitoring. Vet. Mirobiol.  2021 Feb 4;254:109006. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2021.109006. PMID: 33581494.

da Silva, S. J. R., Pardee, K., Balasuriya, U. B. R., Pena, L.  2021.  Development and validation of a one-step reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) for rapid detection of ZIKV in patient samples from Brazil.  Sci. Rep.  2021 Feb 18;11(1):4111. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83371-1. PMID: 33602985.

Carossino, M, Montanaro, P, O'Connell A, Kenney, D, Gertje, H, Grosz, K.A., Kurnick, S.A., Bosmann, M., Saeed, M., Balasuriya U. B. R., Douam, F., Crossland, N. A.  2021.  Fatal neuroinvasion of SARS-CoV-2 in K18-hACE2 mice is partially dependent on hACE2 expression.  BioRxiv. 2021 Jan 15:2021.01.13.425144. doi: 10.1101/2021.01.13.425144. Preprint. PMID: 33469581.

Dini, P., Carossino, M., Balasuriya, U. B. R., Ali, H. E. S.. A., Loux, S. C., Esteller-Vico, A., Scoggins, K. E., Loynachan, A. T., Kalbfleisch, T., De Spiegelaere, W., Dales, P., and Ball, B. A.,  2021.  Paternally expressed retrotransposon Gag like 1 gene, RTL1, is essential for placental angiogenesis. Biol. Repreprod.  Jun 4;104(6):1386-1399. doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioab039.PMID: 33693478.

Ho, J. S. Y., Wing-Yee Mok, B., Campisi, L., Jordan, T., Yildiz, S., Parameswaran, S., Wayman, J. A., Gaudreault, N. N., Meekins, D. A., Indran, S. V., Morozov, I., Trujillo, J. D., Fstkchyan, Y. S., Rathnasinghe, R., Zhu, Z., Zheng, S., Zhao, N., White, K., Ray-Jones, H., Malysheva, V., Thiecke, M. J., Lau, S. Y., Liu, H., Junxia Zhang, A., Chak-Yiu Lee, A., Liu, W. C., Aydillo, T., Salom Melo, B., Guccione, E., Sebra, R., Shum, E., Bakker, J., Kaufman, D. A., Moreira, A. L., Carossino, M., Balasuriya, U. B. R., Byun, M., Miraldi, E. R., Albrecht, R. A., Schotsaert, M., Garcia-Sastre, A., Chanda, S. K., Jeyasekharan, A. D., TenOever, B. R., Spivakov, M., Weirauch, M. T., Heinz, S., Chen, H., Benner, C., Richt, J. A., Marazzi, I.  2020.  TOP 1 inhibition therapy protects against SARS-CoV-2-induced inflammation and death in animal models.  Cell. 184(10):2618-2632.  

Brinton, M. A., Gulyaeva, A., Balasuriya, U. B. R., Dunowska, M., Faaberg, K. S., Goldberg, T., Leung, F. C., Nauwynck, H. J., Snijder, E. J., Stadejek, T., and Gorbalenya, A. E.,  2021.  ICTV Taxonomy Profile: Arteriviridae 2021. J. Gen. Virol. 102(8):001632. Doi:10:1009/jgv.0.001632.

Gaudreault, N. N., Carossino M., Morozov, I., Trujillo, J. D., Meekins, D. A., Madden, D. W., Cool, K., Artiaga, B. L., McDowell, C., Bold, D., Balaraman, V., Kwon, T., Ma, W., Henningson, J., Wilson, D. W., Wilson, W. C., Balasuriya U. B. R., García-Sastre A., Richt, J. A. 2021. Experimental re-infected cats do not transmit SARS-CoV-2. Emerg Microbes Infect. Dec;10(1):638-650. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2021.1902753.PMID: 33704016  
Cool K., Gaudreault, N. N., Morozov, I., Trujillo, J. D., Meekins, D. A., McDowell, C., Carossino, M., Bold, D., Kwon, T., Balaraman, V., Madden, D. W., Artiaga, B. L., Pogranichniy, R. M., Sosa, G. R., Henningson, J., Wilson, W. C., Balasuriya U. B. R., García-Sastre, A., Richt, J. A. 2021. Infection transmission of SARS-CoV-2 and its alpha variant in pregnant white-tail deer. BioRxiv. 2021 Aug 16:2021.08.15.456341. doi: 10.1101/2021.08.15.456341. Preprint.  PMID: 34426811.

ALL PUBLICATIONS ON PUBMED

Google Scholar Citations

Grant Funding

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Infrastructure funding to help support participation in the NAHLN Level 1 (RFA 2021) grant to Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory 
Agency: USDA-NIFA/NAHLN; Award Period: 2021-2022; Total Cost: ~$250,000/year  

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Whole genome sequencing laboratory, procurement of supplies and reagents and equipment maintenance for surveillance, outbreak assessment, and data mining; Agency: Vet-LIRN; Award Period: 2021-2022; Total Cost: $74,000/year (Total $380,000)

Role: Principal investigator; Title: A novel mechanism of viral immune evasion: Hijacking and exploitation of the CXCL16/CXCR6 chemokine axis by equine arteritis virus during persistent infection in the stallion reproductive tract; Agency: NIH-USDA NIFA R01 Research Grant Program Dual Purpose with Dual Benefit: Research in Biomedicine and Agriculture Using Agriculturally Important Domestic Animal Species; Award Period: 2019-2024; Total Cost: $1,625,000

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing; Agency: Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries; Award Period: 2019-2024; Total Cost: $349,840 

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Infrastructure funding to help support participation in the NAHLN Level 2 grant to Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory; Agency: USDA-NAHLN; Award Period: 2018-2021; Total Cost: ~$137,000/year  

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Whole genome sequencing laboratory, procurement of supplies and reagents and equipment maintenance for surveillance, outbreak assessment, and data mining; Agency: Vet-LIRN; Award Period: 2018-2023; Total Cost: $74,000/year (Total $380,000)

Role: Principal investigator (Intramural Funding); Title: Establishment of the CLIA Laboratory for SRARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) testing at the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (LADDL Clinical Laboratory); Agency: LSU President’s Office, Disaster Relief Funds; Award Period: 2020-2021; Total Cost: $606,845

Role: Principal investigator; Title: NAHLN Level 2 Laboratory Work Plan 2020; Agency: USDA-National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN); Award Period: 2020-2021; Total Cost: $131,000

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Vet-LIRN Network Capacity-Building Projects; Agency: Vet-LIRN; Award Period: 2019-2021; Total Cost: $23,700

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Vet-LIRN network supplemental capacity building: 7500 FAST Real-Time System; Agency: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Vet-LIRN 
Award Period: 2020; Total Cost: $40,070

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Insecticide Resistance Monitoring in Mosquitos in Louisiana; Agency: CDC and Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals; Award Period: 2019-2020; Total Cost: $284,503

Role: Principal investigator; Title: A Pilot Project: Rapid Identification and Untargeted Sequencing of Viral Pathogens in Clinical Specimens Using Nanopore Single Molecule Sequencing (MinION); Agency: American Association of Veterinary Diagnosticians (AAVLD) & Thermo Fisher Innovation in Veterinary Diagnostic Medicine Grant; Award Period: 2019-2020; Total Cost: $25,000

Role: Principal investigator (Intramural Funding); Title: Identification of immunodominant CD8+ cytotoxic T cell epitopes in major structural proteins of equine arteritis virus; Agency: Equine Health Studies Program (EHSP) Charles V. Cusimano Research grant; Award Period: 2019-2020; Total Cost: $12,000

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Chronic wasting disease (CWD) equipment purchase  
Agency: Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries; Award Period: 2019; Total Cost: $200,000

Role: Principal investigator; Title: Increasing Sample Capacity Through Automation; Agency: VetLIRN; Award Period: 2018-2019; Total Cost: $225,000