After studying in Uganda for over 20 years, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine professor Tony Goldberg believes not all research that will benefit Wisconsin can be done within state boundaries.
Goldberg, who runs the namesake of UW-Madison’s Goldberg Lab, conducts research on infectious diseases, epidemiology, ecology and evolution in natural populations. Goldberg said he is most interested in diseases that are shared between people and animals, such as West Nile virus, Lyme disease and E. coli.
Goldberg said his research on human-induced changes to tropical ecosystems for the Kibale National Park has been his favorite endeavor. The project’s team works to understand how human-induced changes to tropical ecosystems alter health-related outcomes and infectious diseases.
He added the site is a great example of how biodiversity, human disease, globalization, human economic development and other factors collide in a small place. For example, he has watched the glaciers on top of nearby mountains begin to disappear throughout his time in Uganda.
“When you’re in these vulnerable areas, these ecologically delicate places, you can see this stuff happening before your eyes…the pace of change is palpable there,” Goldberg said.
Additionally, Goldberg compared the idea of accessing information outside of Wisconsin borders to understand processes within the state to the “war on terror.”
“We can wait here for diseases to strike us, or we can go out and focus on diseases before they hit our borders,” Goldberg said.
Recently, Goldberg received national attention because he found a tick inside his nose following a visit to Uganda. After pulling out the tick, he conducted DNA sequences on it and realized his results were not part of any known database.
He said he is unsure whether it is a new species of tick or if it is a previously categorized species with unknown genetics. He added the interesting part of the story is that by using digital photographs of the chimpanzees, the researchers were able to look up the chimps’ noses to see 20 percent of them had ticks at the same time he did.
Goldberg says his research shows scientists still have a lot to learn about disease transmission in nature.
“We’re thinking that they’re actually a specialized ape tick, and they’re going in the nose to avoid being groomed off,” Goldberg said. “It shows you vectors like ticks, and maybe pathogens are very clever in an evolutionary sense in how they avoid host defenses.”
