Teaching
Dr. Martinot leads the Research Thread of the Veterinary medical curriculum and directs the microbiology labs for the DVM students. She also lectures on mycobacterial and clostridial diseases, participates in the Tufts Summer Research Experience (TSRE) and veterinary summer research program.
VMED-134: Research relevance thread | First year Fall | Course Director
VMED-135: Research relevance thread | First year Spring | Course Director
VMED-234: Research relevance thread | Second year Fall | Course Director
VMED-235: Research relevance thread | Second year Fall | Course Director
The goal of the research thread is to expose students to the role that research plays across veterinary medicine. This course is also designed to develop skills that allow students to become informed consumers of scientific data with the ability to communicate relevant research to their colleagues and clients in the future. The activities focus on research skills that are critical for developing life-long learning habits; this includes formulating questions, finding reliable resources, and weighing evidence while also identifying gaps in knowledge. All of these tools are critical for students’ success throughout their veterinary education and during whatever career they pursue. This course runs Years 1 and 2 (16h and 14h; total 30 hours) with horizontal and vertical integration of curriculum content. There are six topics in Yr1. Our goal is to provide a foundation for critical thinking as you embark on your career in veterinary medicine including the ability to:
- Establish the foundation of all research: How to formulate and refine good questions.
- Gain experience finding answers, weighing evidence, and identifying knowledge gaps.
- Develop skills and confidence in interpretating, communicating, and applying data to address problems in veterinary medicine.
- Use principles of self-guided learning and inquiry to reinforce content delivered elsewhere in the curriculum, outside the field of veterinary medicine, and in their clinical reasoning and practice of veterinary medicine.
- Provide opportunities for feedback from peers and faculty experts.
VMED-113: Microbiology| Second year Spring | Laboratory Director
This course is a course with lectures and labs, supplemented with cases to practice problem-solving. For lectures, the course will cover important infectious diseases of veterinary species, focusing on domestic and agricultural animals with examples from exotics and wildlife. The course will begin with general host-pathogen relationships; pathogen “lifestyles”, and transmission routes. The pathogenesis and manifestations of infectious diseases due to bacteria, viruses, and fungi will be covered. Specific bacterial pathogens include (but are not limited to): Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Clostridia, E. coli, Salmonella, Yersinia, Leptospira, Pseudomonas, Mycobacteria, Mycoplasma, and actinomycetes. Specific viral pathogens include (but are not limited to): Coronavirus, herpesvirus, influenza virus, morbillivirus, parvoviruses, papillomavirus, retrovirus, rhabdovirus. Specific fungal pathogens include (but are not limited to): Superficial, deep, and systemic mycoses due to monomorphic and dimorphic fungi. Whenever possible, disease topics will be thematically grouped by the host species and the organ system affected, or thematically by pathogen similarities.
For the labs, this course will cover the basic detection methods of Gram positive and negative bacteria, determination of antibiotic resistance of bacteria, and ELISA-based assays. Students will have hands-on experience on learning these approaches and understand the strength and limitation of these microbiological methods.
Microbiology/Virology Selective
Dr. Martinot’s laboratory focuses on pathogens that impact both humans and animals. Current focus of members of the laboratory include mycobacteria, SARS-CoV-2, avian influenza, and herpesviruses. Students will have the opportunity to learn basic microbiological techniques including culture and plating of bacteria, growth assays, RNA and DNA isolation, and PCR. For students interested in virology, opportunities to learn cell culture, virus propagation, and plaque assays may also be learned. Projects will be catered to students’ interest and ongoing projects. Other molecular biology techniques may also be explored.
Digital Pathology Selective
This selective is designed for students with an interest in pathology who would like exposure to the exciting field of digital pathology. This student will gain understanding of and comfort with the general pathology process (grossing through slide creation) via shadowing and hands-on learning in the research histology lab, and then will learn how to utilize digital slide analysis platforms to assess scanned slides. Options in digital pathology include learning multiple pathology software platforms (HALO, Aperio ImageScope, QuPath) for digital slide analysis, building algorithms for analysis of H&E, immunohistochemistry, and in-situ hybridization slides, and investigating the use of machine learning and AI for discovery and research pathology.
Pre-College Experiences
Dr. Martinot participates in the Tufts Pre-College Programs, such as the Lab Science Investigations, and has welcomed students into the lab as part of the Tufts Summer Research experience.