Education

PhD, University of Kentucky, 2018

DVM, Universidad del Salvador (Argentina), 2012

Certifications

Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Microbiologists

Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Pathologists

Research Interest

The overarching focus of my research is to understand the pathogenesis and immunopathology of RNA viruses combining translational animal models and modern, molecular pathology techniques to comparatively study virus-host interactions during respiratory and persistent viral infections. Another area of research is the development and validation of molecular diagnostics for viral pathogens. Research focus includes: 1) Understanding host tropism/virulence determinants of SARS-CoV-2, its interactions with the host at the pulmonary level, and understanding at the cellular and molecular level how different comorbidities shape the outcome of COVID-19; 2) Dissecting host-virus interactions associated with equine arteritis virus persistence in the reproductive tract; 3) Developing and validating molecular diagnostics for viral pathogens and others.  

Teaching Interest

My teaching interests involve instruction of Anatomic Pathology to DVM students and pathology trainees, veterinary virology for DVM students, and advanced viral pathogenesis for graduate students. I am also interested in mentoring students in laboratory techniques.  

Clinical Interest

My clinical interest involves the development of immunohistochemical and in situ hybridization assays for infectious agents and tumor markers as well as development and validation of molecular diagnostics. I am also involved in surveillance of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in cervids. Specific areas of interest include reproductive and respiratory pathology.

Awards & Honors

2020, Charles Louis Davis Foundation Pathology Trainee and Scholarship Award 

2016, American Society for Virology Travel Award

2013-2015, Fulbright Scholarship Program. Fulbright U.S. Student Program, U.S. Department of State

2012, Cum Laude, Universidad del Salvador (USAL), Escuela de Veterinaria, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Publications

Carossino, M., Barrandeguy, M. E., Li, Y., Parreño, V., Janes, J., Loynachan, A. T., and Balasuriya, U. B. R. Detection, molecular characterization and phylogenetic analysis of G3P[12] and G14P[12] equine rotavirus strains co-circulating in central Kentucky. Virus Res. 2018 Aug 15;255:39-54

Nam, B., Mekuria, Z., Carossino, M., Li, G., Zheng, Y., Zhang, J., Cook, R. F., Campos, J. R., Shuck, K. M., Bailey, E., Timoney, P. J., and Balasuriya, U. B. R. Intra-host Selection Pressure Drives Equine Arteritis Virus Evolution during Persistent Infection in the Stallion Reproductive Tract. J Virol. 2019 May 29;93(12). pii: e00045-19

Carossino, M., Barrandeguy, M. E., Li, Y., Erol, E., and Balasuriya, U. B. R. Development and evaluation of a one-step multiplex TaqMan® RT-qPCR assay for the detection and genotyping of equine G3 and G14 rotaviruses in fecal samples. Virol J. 2019 Apr 25;16(1):49

Carossino, M., Dini, P., Kalbfleisch, T. S., Loynachan, A. T., Canisso, I. F., Cook, R. F., Timoney, P. J. and Balasuriya, U. B. R. Equine arteritis virus long-term persistence is orchestrated by CD8+ T lymphocyte transcription factors, inhibitory receptors, and the CXCL16/CXCR6 axis. PLoS Pathogens. 2019 Jul 29;15(7):e1007950

Carossino, M., Ip, H., Richt, J., Schultz, K., Harper, K., Loynachan, A. T., Del Piero, F., Balasuriya, U. B. R. Detection of SARS-CoV-2 by RNAscope® in situ Hybridization and Immunohistochemistry Techniques. Arch Virol. 2020 Oct;165(10):2373-2377. doi: 10.1007/s00705-020-04737-w.

Uche, I. K., Fowlkes, N., Vu, L., Watanabe, T., Carossino, M., Del Piero, F., Rudd, J., Kousoulas, K. G., and Rider, P. J. F. The Novel Oncolytic Herpesvirus Type-1 (HSV-1) VC2  Promotes Long-lasting, Systemic Anti-melanoma Tumor Immune Responses and Increased Survival in an Immunocompetent B16F10-derived Mouse Melanoma Model. J Virol. 2021 Jan 13;95(3):e01359-20.  doi: 10.1128/JVI.01359-20

Gaudreault, N., Trujilllo, J., Carossino, M., Meekins, D., Madden, D., Balaraman, V., Henningson, J., Morozov, I., Bold, D., Kwong, T., Roman-Sosa, G., Artiaga, B. L., Indran, S., Cool, K., García-Sastre, A., Ma, W., Wilson, W. C., Balasuriya, U. B. R. and Richt, J. A. SARS-CoV-2 infection, disease and transmission in domestic cats. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Dec;9(1):2322-2332 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1833687 
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.04.235002  

Hall, J., Knowles, S., Nashold, S., Ip, H., Leon, A., Rocke, T., Carossino, M., Balasuriya, U. B. R., and Hofmeister, E. Experimental challenge of a North American bat species, big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus), with SARS-CoV-2. Transbound Emerg Dis. 2020 Dec 9.  doi: 10.1111/tbed.13949. Epub ahead of print

Meekins, D., Morozov, I., Trujilllo, J. D., Gaudreault, N., Bold, D., Carossino, M., Artiaga, B. L., Indran, S., Kwong, T., Balaraman, V., Madden, D., Feldmann, H., Henningson, J., , Ma, W., Balasuriya, U. B. R. and Richt, J. A. Susceptibility of swine cells and domestic pigs to SARS-CoV-2. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Dec;9(1):2278-2288. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2020.1831405  

Sook Yuin Ho, J.; Wing-Yee Mok, B.; Campisi, L.; Jordan, T.; Yildiz, S.; Parameswaran, S.; Wayman, J. A.; Gaudreault, N. N.; Meekins, D. A.; Indran, S. V.; Morozov, I.; Trujillo, J. D.; Fstkchyan, Y. S.; Rathnasinghe, R.; Zhu, Z.; Zheng, S.; Zhao, N.; White, K.; Ray-Jones, H.; Malysheva, V.; Thiecke, M. J.; Lau, S.; Liu, H.; Zhang, A. J.; Chak-Yiu Lee, A.; Liu, W.; Aydillo-Gomez, T.; Guccione, E.; Melo, B. S.; Sebra, R.; Shum, E.; Bakker, J.; Kaufman, D. A.; Moreira, A.; Carossino, M.; Balasuriya, U. B. R.; Byun, M.; Miraldi, E. R.; Albrecht, R. A.; Schotsaert, M.; Garcia-Sastre, A.; Chanda, S. K.; Jeyasekharan, A. D.; TenOever, B. R.; Spivakov, M.; Weirauch, M. T.; Heinz, S.; Chen, H.; Benner, C.; Richt, J. A. and Marazzi, I. TOP1 inhibition therapy protects against SARS-CoV-2-induced lethal inflammation. Cell. 2021 Mar 30;S0092-8674(21)00382-2.  doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.051  bioRxiv preprint doi: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.01.404483v1

Carossino, M., Bauer, R., Mitchell, M. A., Cummings, C. O., Stöhr, A. C., Wakamatsu, N.,  Harper, K., Langohr, I. M., Schultz, K., Mitchell, M. S., Howe, D. K. and Balasuriya, U. B. R. Pathological and immunohistochemical study of an outbreak of systemic toxoplasmosis in a mob of red kangaroos. J Vet Diagn Invest. 2021 Mar 19;10406387211001869. doi: 10.1177/10406387211001869.

De Cecco, B., Carossino, M., Del Piero, F., Wakamatsu, N., Mitchell, M. S., Fowlkes, N. W., and Langohr, I. M. Meningitis and meningoencephalomyelitis associated with Pasteurella multocida infection in domestic cats: a case series and review of feline meningoencephalomyelitides. J Vet Diagn Invest 2021 (In press)

Carossino, M., Montanaro, P., O’Connell, A., Kenney, D., Gertje, H., Grosz, K. A., Kurnick, S. A., Bosmann, M., Saeed, M., Balasuriya, U. B. R., Douam, F., and Crossland, N. A. Fatal neuroinvasion of SARS-CoV-2 in K18-hACE2 mice is partially dependent on hACE2 expression. J Virol. 2021 (Under Review) 
bioRxiv preprint doi: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.01.13.425144v2.article-info

Gaudreault, N., Carossino, M., Morozov, I., Trujilllo, J., Meekins, D., Madden, D., Cool, K., Artiaga, B. L., McDowell, C., Bold, D., Balaraman, V., Kwong, T., Ma, W., Henningson, J., Wilson, D. W., Wilson, W. C., Balasuriya, U. B. R., García-Sastre, A., and Richt, J. A. Experimental re-infected cats do not transmit SARS-CoV-2. Emerg Microbes Infect. 2021. (In Press)  bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.01.18.427182

Dini, P., Kalbfleisch, T., Uribe-Salazar, J. M., Carossino, M., El-Sheikh Ali, H., Loux, S., Esteller-Vico, A., Norris, J. K., Anand, L., Scoggin, K. E., Rodriguez Lopez, C. M., Breen, J., Bailey, E., Daels, P., and Ball, B. A. Parental bias in expression and interaction of genes in the equine placenta. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2021 Apr 20;118(16):e2006474118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2006474118

Dini, P., Carossino, M., Balasuriya, U. B. R., El-Sheikh Ali, H., Loux, S. C., Esteller-Vico, A., Scoggin, K. E., Loynachan, A. T., Kalbfleisch, T., De Spiegelaere, W., Daels, P., Ball, B. A. Paternally expressed retrotransposon Gag like 1 gene, RTL1, is one of the crucial elements for placental angiogenesis in horses. Biol Reprod. 2021 2021 Mar 8;ioab039.  doi: 10.1093/biolre/ioab039. 

MYNCBI BIBLIOGRAPHY

GOOGLE SCHOLAR CITATIONS

Grant Funding

COBRE Center for Lung Biology and Disease (CLBD) Pilot Project Grant. Role of obesity and diabetes in shaping the outcome of SARS-CoV-2 infection in murine models. Agency: National Institutes of Health (NIH) – Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE). Team: Mariano Carossino (PI), Joel D. Baines, Udeni Balasuriya, Juergen A. Richt, Nicholas Crossland, Alan T. Loynachan, and Pouya Dini. Award Period: January 1-December 30, 2021. Total Award: $50,000

National Animal Health Laboratory Network Enhancement 2021: Increase Capacity For Testing for Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). Agency: NIH/USDA-NIFA. Team: Udeni B. R. Balasuriya (PI), Mariano Carossino (Co-PI). Award Period: 2022-2023. Total Award: $381,451

USDA-NIFA Award Number 2019-67016-29102: Dual Purpose with Dual Benefit: Research in Biomedicine and Agriculture Using Agriculturally Important Domestic Animal Species. A novel mechanism of viral immune evasion: Hijacking and exploitation of the CXCL16/CXCR6 chemokine axis by EAV during persistent infection in the stallion reproductive tract. Agency: USDA-NIFA. Team: Udeni B. R. Balasuriya (PI), Mariano Carossino (Co-PI), et al. Award Period: 2019-2024. Total Award: $1,625,000 

Chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing. Agency: Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Award Period: 2019-2024. Total Award: $349,841. PI and Team Members: Udeni Balasuriya, Mariano Carossino, Kendra Shultz, and anatomic pathologists (Fabio Del Piero, Ingeborg Langohr, Rudy Bauer, and Daniel Paulsen). Collaborator: Jim LaCour, LDWF