Research Equipment Support
The CCAH launched its Faculty Equipment Grants Program in 2014 after recognizing the ongoing need of the school’s faculty to purchase new equipment and pay for replacements or repairs. “It’s hard to repair or replace equipment needed for research because most grants exclude equipment,” says Director Dr. Michael Kent. “If a freezer or centrifuge breaks, it needs to get done right away.”
In the program’s ten years of existence, over $3.6 million, has been used to finance over 250 total requests for equipment. During the 2026 round of funding, the CCAH fulfilled 20 requests — totaling more than $369,000 — for the following items:
4’ Logic Class II, Type A2 Biological Safety Cabinet
Principal Investigator: Amir Kol
This specialized biosafety cabinet is a critical tool for safely working with delicate canine and feline induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This sterile workspace improves stem cell quality, enabling reliable disease modeling and regenerative therapy development for neurological, cardiac, and other conditions. Improving the quality and reliability of our stem cell cultures will accelerate innovative treatments for companion animals.
Dental Delivery Unit
Principal Investigator: Boaz Arzi
A new dental delivery unit is needed to replace a malfunctioning 30‑year‑old system. This equipment will support dental procedure advancements, surgical model creation, and hands‑on training. Upgrading this unit enhances trainee skills and directly improves the quality, innovation, and impact of dental care for companion animals.
-80C Freezer
Principal Investigator: Cecilia Giulivi
An ultra–low temperature (−80°C) freezer will be used to preserve blood, DNA, and tissue samples from dogs and cats. Proper storage prevents breakdown of critical proteins and enzymes, enabling accurate disease studies. This essential equipment supports discovery of early warning markers and targeted treatments, advancing diagnosis and improving health outcomes for companion animals.
Centrifuge and Pipettes
Principal Investigator: Danika Bannasch
Funds will be used for two essential research lab tools: a precision pipette for accurately measuring small liquid volumes and a centrifuge for spinning samples to isolate DNA. These basic instruments support daily molecular biology workflows and are critical for producing reliable, high‑quality data in our research on companion animals.
Electronics Controller for VORL’s Musculoskeletal Tissue Mechanical Testing Machine (MTS Systems)
Principal Investigator: Denis Marcellin-Little
The MTS system advances treatments for bone, tendon, and ligament injuries and develops optimal joint replacements for animals. Replacing the system's aging strength‑testing hardware and software is essential to evaluating implant performance and tissue healing. These upgrades will enable more accurate testing, improving function and quality of treatment for companion animals.
Pediatric Neuroendoscopic System (PaediScope)
Principal Investigator: Ji-Hey Lim
A miniature neuroendoscope will enable minimally invasive brain surgery in dogs and cats. This camera‑guided tool treats conditions such as hydrocephalus, in which fluid builds up inside the brain; cysts; and tumors using minimally invasive techniques. It improves diagnosis, expands treatment options, and supports training and research that bring innovative, less invasive brain surgery techniques to companion animals.
Water Purification System and -20 Freezer
Principal Investigator: Jin Zhang
A new water purification system and laboratory freezer will support research on tumor‑suppression mechanisms in dogs and humans. Reliable high‑quality water is essential for experimental accuracy, while the freezer will store and preserve critical specimens and other reagents. These units are critical for obtaining data needed to publish research and secure future funding.
FluxMed Respiratory Monitor
Principal Investigator: Joao Henrique Neves Soares
The FluxMed monitor helps veterinarians understand how dogs and cats breathe by measuring airflow, lung function, and gas exchange far beyond standard monitors. It will support research and improve anesthesia and respiratory care by detecting problems earlier and providing safer, more personalized treatment for canine and feline patients.
Photon UVC
Principal Investigator: Kathryn Koehler
The PhotonUVC is a handheld device that uses brief ultraviolet (UVC) light pulses to safely and rapidly eliminate bacteria, viruses, and fungi on the eye’s surface. It offers a fast, painless, no‑contact treatment for infected corneal ulcers, reducing dependence on topical antibiotics while helping to preserve vision and minimize stress for the patient.
Hot Bead Sterilizer - Analogue
Principal Investigator: Krista Keller
A glass bead sterilizer rapidly heats and sterilizes reusable instruments, reducing reliance on disposable tools and bulk sterilization. It will support infectious disease research in companion reptiles and fish, including fungal disease in bearded dragons and mycobacteriosis in fish. Improved laboratory efficiency and sterile technique will accelerate diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of infectious diseases in companion animals.
High Frequency Point-of-Care Ultrasound
Principal Investigator: Marguerite Knipe
Neuromuscular diseases greatly affect mobility in companion animals, but diagnosis often requires risky anesthesia. This ultrasound system provides a non‑invasive, non-painful, repeatable way to evaluate muscles and nerves without anesthesia. It helps treat and manage neuromuscular disease patients and also supports brain tumor surgery guidance and neurologic patient monitoring across our service.
Cellavision DC-1
Principal Investigator: Melanie Ammersbach
The Cellavision DC-1 will enhance hematology education, research, and clinical service by digitizing blood smear review, improving workflow efficiency by up to 70%, and enabling remote collaboration. It will support case-based training, image sharing with clinicians, and development of a publicly accessible, multi-species blood cell image database for diagnostics, research, and artificial intelligence applications.
Hologic Horizon-W Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry System
Principal Investigator: Ming Lu
The DXA scanner is used to measure bone density, body fat, and muscle mass in dogs and cats. This equipment evaluates bone strength for better surgical planning, reduces complications, and monitors bone healing and long‑term bone health, including impacts of nutrition, rehabilitation, exercise, and weight‑loss programs. The scanner will enhance clinical care and support research aimed at improving mobility, comfort, and overall quality of life for companion animals.
Semi-Automation Module for Medical Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Software
Principal Investigator: Po-Yen Chou
This upgraded specialized software converts CT and MRI scans into accurate 3D models of a patient’s anatomy, helping surgeons plan complex procedures, design custom implants, and create patient‑specific guides. Upgrading this software will automate the most time-intensive analytical steps, enabling larger, more consistent analyses, and will improve surgical solutions and quality of care for hundreds of companion animal patients each year.
-80 Freezer for VCCT
Principal Investigator: Robert Rebhun
Ultra-low (−80°F) freezer storage is essential for preserving blood, tissue, and tumor samples from veterinary clinical trials. This equipment increases storage capacity for critical samples, enabling research on genetic and infectious diseases and supporting testing of new protocols and novel therapies to improve care for companion animals.
Locator 4 Plus Cryo Storage Vessel, Centrifuge Repair, Freezer, BSC service, Pipettes
Principal Investigator: Robert Rebhun
This shared equipment supports ongoing veterinary cancer research and clinical trials testing new cancer treatments for dogs and cats. Cryogenic storage, freezers, and centrifuges preserve and analyze sensitive patient samples. New pipettes and certified biosafety cabinets improve efficiency, sterility, and safety for students and staff, and support cutting-edge immunotherapy research and diagnostic applications.
Chromium Xo Single Cell instrument
Principal Investigator: Simon Anthony
Canine and feline coronaviruses are highly transmissible viruses that cause serious disease, including life‑threatening Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP) in cats. Our lab studies these viruses in the context of co-infection and recombination between canine and feline strains. The proposed single‑cell sequencing equipment will allow for sequencing at an individual cell level, providing a more detailed investigation of both these viruses and their effects on the hosts.
ELISA plate washer
Principal Investigator: Terza Brostoff
An automated plate washer will streamline ELISA testing by replacing time‑consuming manual washing with faster, more consistent automation. This improves accuracy and reliability while supporting development of a new diagnostic test for canine paroxysmal gluten-sensitive dyskinesia (PGSD), a rare neurological disease in dogs that is currently difficult to diagnose in the United States. The plate washer will be available to other veterinary researchers, helping advance studies on a variety of diseases that impact companion animals to improve overall animal health outcomes.
Two Chemistry Analyzers
Principal Investigator: Veterinary Medication Teaching Hospital
Blood chemistry analyzers are essential research tools that provide rapid, quantitative assessment of organ function, metabolism, and disease status in companion animals. They support clinical trials, biomarker discovery, drug safety studies, translational medicine, and retrospective analyses, generating standardized datasets that advance veterinary and comparative biomedical research.