A travel award from Ohio State alumni and GOHi supporter, Tom Mack, DVM, enabled Laura Binkley to attend the Rabies in the Americas (RITA) conference held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

She presented her work on the molecular epidemiology of rabies in Ethiopia via poster as well as her work on the identification of terrestrial carnivore reservoir hosts for rabies transmission in an oral presentation. Her research involved a combination of laboratory and field work.

Her lab work consisted of genetic sequencing and identification of rabies virus variants circulating throughout Ethiopia in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her field work included the use of camera traps to examine contact rates between terrestrial carnivores at communal foraging sites throughout the country.

These contact rates were then applied to mathematical expressions that helped determine the rabies maintenance potential of various wild and domestic animal species.