LMU-CVM maintains a strong collaborative relationship with the University of Kentucky (UK), formalized through cooperative agreements with the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center and the UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. This partnership expands research opportunities for LMU-CVM students and faculty by providing access to world-class facilities, specialized equipment, and mentorship from leading experts in veterinary science.
Through this collaboration, LMU-CVM veterinary students can spend their summer working full-time in research laboratories at either the Gluck Equine Research Center or the UK Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory. Under the guidance of experienced faculty mentors, students participate fully in the research process, formulating hypotheses, designing and conducting experiments, analyzing data, and communicating their findings through oral presentations, posters, and manuscripts.
Students benefit not only from hands-on technical training but also from exposure to the collaborative, multidisciplinary environment that defines modern biomedical research. Most student researchers present their work at local and regional scientific conferences, including LMU-CVM’s annual Phi Zeta Research Day, further developing their professional communication skills.
This ongoing collaboration underscores LMU-CVM’s commitment to providing veterinary students with world-class research experiences that enhance their education, inspire innovation, and contribute to advances in animal health.
Several collaborative research initiatives are ongoing between the LMU-CVM and Gluck Equine Research Center, with active involvement from LMU-CVM students. These projects include 'investigations into antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella at the animal-human-environment interface', 'H5N1 surveillance in agricultural animals across the Cumberland Gap Region', 'the development of the first isoform-resolved catalog of transcriptional changes in the equine chorioallantois during pregnancy and placentitis', ‘defining Regulatory Networks of Myometrial Activation in Chronic Equine Placentitis’, and ‘next-generation Probiotics as an antibiotic alternative to Control Clostridium’. These multidisciplinary efforts provide valuable research experience for students and are expected to yield significant scientific outputs in the near future.
The Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center is the only scientific institute in the United States with nearly all faculty conducting full-time research in equine health and diseases. Construction of the 81,000 sq. ft. facility was completed in 1987. The mission of the Gluck Center is scientific discovery, education and dissemination of knowledge for the benefit of the health and well-being of horses. The Gluck Center faculty conduct equine research in seven targeted areas: genetics and genomics, immunology, infectious diseases, musculoskeletal science, parasitology, pharmacology, therapeutics and toxicology, and reproductive health.
The over 60,000 sq. ft. University of Kentucky Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (UKVDL) strives to be the leading veterinary diagnostic service, research and teaching laboratory in the United States through the application of peer-reviewed, validated scientific methodology and quality control systems in accordance with ISO 17025 standards. The mission of the UKVDL is to develop and apply state-of-the-art diagnostic methodology to improve animal health and marketability, to protect public health, and to assist in the preservation of the human-animal bond through the principles of One Health. The UKVDL is fully accredited by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.
