Biology subjects

Mosher, B.

Publications and source records attributed to Mosher, B..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Decision analysis in support of proactive planning for chronic wasting disease in Vermont, USA

Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal, transmissible disease in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and related species, is spreading across North America but has not yet been detected in Vermont, United States (U.S.). The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, along with partner agencies, wants to develop a proactive prevention and response plan in anticipation of the eventual detection of the disease. Between September 2023 and September 2025, staff from the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Vermont facilitated a structured decision-making (SDM) process with seven State and Federal agencies that have jurisdiction over some aspect of CWD management in Vermont. The aim of this process was to generate and evaluate alternative response plans against a range of long-term objectives important to the agencies. To aid in the evaluation of the alternatives, we developed a linked set of models for white-tailed deer population and disease dynamics, hunter participation and health, forest health, economic consequences, and agricultural opportunities related to the actions being contemplated as part of the response plan. We evaluated over 256 different permutations of management actions and used multi-criteria decision analysis, a branch of decision analysis designed to help decision makers navigate tradeoffs among competing objectives, to summarize the performance of those alternative strategies against the desired outcomes. Proactive actions, those designed to slow the arrival of CWD to Vermont, were moderately effective, but the most important proactive action was surveillance to detect the disease early after arrival, which triggered response actions after detection. With the insights generated by the SDM process and the results of the analyses, the participating agencies were able to identify a preferred strategy and outline the elements of a proactive response plan. This report describes the SDM process, the technical details of the modeling work, and the results of the analyses.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2026

Donor-derived CD8+CD122+ Tregs generated in mixed donor chimeric NOD mice delete autoreactive T cells

The establishment of mixed hematopoietic chimerism is a promising way to induce immune tolerance for islet replacement therapy and to treat the underlying autoimmunity in type 1 diabetes (T1D). Mixed chimerism not only promotes effective thymic negative selection of autoreactive cells but also restores regulatory T cell (Treg) function and peripheral tolerance. In the current study, we determined that a novel class of donor-derived CD8+CD44+CD122+ Tregs (d-CD8+CD122+ Tregs) plays a crucial role in controlling autoimmunity in non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice with induced mixed chimerism. Using adoptive T cell transfer experiments, we showed that d-CD8+CD122+ Tregs abrogate autoimmunity by selectively depleting the exogenously injected diabetogenic T cells in Recombination-Activating Gene deficient NOD mice. These d-CD8+CD122+ Tregs from NOD chimeras show upregulation of Helios, Programmed cell death protein 1, perforin, granzyme-B, CD39, Folate receptor 4, and downregulation of proinflammatory markers like Scart1 and Scart2. Using in vitro assays, we show that d-CD8+CD122+ Tregs respond specifically to a Complementarity-Determining Region-3 peptide sequence derived from T cell receptors of islet antigen-specific autoreactive T cells. Similarly, we found that individuals with T1D have a deficiency in CD8+CD122+ Tregs, suggesting a potential loss of regulatory function accompanies disease onset. Revitalizing CD8+CD122+ Tregs may offer a new therapeutic strategy of restoring immune tolerance in autoimmune diabetes.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2023

Cross-sector collaboration reduces SARS-CoV-2 risk in deer

One Health helps achieve optimal health outcomes for people, animals, plants, and their shared environments. We describe a multidisciplinary effort to better understand and mitigate SARS-CoV-2 spread in white-tailed deer across One Health sectors. We first framed the risk problem with three governance sectors that manage captive and wild deer and human public health. The framing included the objectives for each sector, interactions that facilitate human-to-deer and deer-to-deer transmission, and alternatives intended to reduce risk. We then developed a dynamic compartmental model that linked wild and captive deer herds and humans and simulated SARS-CoV-2 dynamics. For baseline conditions, we estimated that median SARS-CoV-2 prevalence in wild and captive herds varied between 0.03 - 0.07, incidence between 0.68 - 1.46, and probability of persistence between 0.64 - 0.97 across 120-day simulations. We then tested single-sector alternatives alone and in combination with other sector actions. We found that single sector alternatives varied in their ability to reduce transmission and that the best performing alternative required collaborative actions among wildlife management, agricultural management, and public health agencies.

ecology↗