Mason Jager's Research

I am a graduate student in the DVM seeking Ph.D. program at Cornell University and one of the more recent additions to the Van de Walle laboratory. In addition to my degree in veterinary medicine, I am a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathology.

My research is focused on understanding the pathogenesis of equine parvovirus-hepatitis, a recently discovered virus that is considered the likely cause of Theiler's disease. Theiler's disease, also known as serum hepatitis, is a fatal liver disease of horses that has been recognized for almost 100 years. While an infectious cause had long been suspected, it was only recently that a viable candidate was identified. Specifically, my research involves understanding how this virus can infect and replicate in non-dividing hepatocytes, an unusual feature for this family of small viruses that largely depend on the host cell replication machinery. I plan to develop in vitro models of infection that can inform decisions about treatments and vaccine development.