Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust to help advance Iowa State University’s research related to childhood respiratory virus

Ames, Iowa – The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, has committed $350,125 to advance the research of the role vitamin A plays in boosting the immune system’s response to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a leading cause of respiratory disease in infants and young children worldwide.

“We are so grateful to the Carver Trust for their generous support on this project,” said Jodi McGill, who leads the research group receiving the Carver Trust grant and is an assistant professor in the department of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine.

Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most prevalent nutrition-related health problems in the world. Recent global estimates from the World Health Organization suggest more than 190 million preschool age children are biochemically vitamin A deficient. According to Iowa State researchers, even at subclinical levels, this deficiency results in increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, including RSV. Currently, there is no vaccine available for RSV, and treatments remain limited and cost prohibitive for many families worldwide.

“There are significant ongoing efforts to design vaccines against RSV,” said McGill. “While this is a very important goal, vaccines don’t work as well and patients are more susceptible to infection if the host immune system is not functioning at its best. Vitamin A plays an important role in the immune system, but we don’t know exactly how it influences the response to respiratory infection. We believe our research will advance our understanding of the interactions between nutrition and disease, and lead to the design of better therapies for those who do acquire severe RSV, as well as better vaccines to prevent the infection in the first place.”

The Carver Trust grant will support Iowa State researchers’ study of how immune cells contribute to RSV susceptibility in individuals who are vitamin A deficient, and help determine the efficacy of targeted, local vitamin A supplementation on restoring the immune response to RSV infection. Researchers hypothesize that vitamin A deficiency impairs immune responses in the respiratory tract during RSV infection, but that local vitamin A supplementation can improve the outcome of RSV infection and restore the mucosal immune response in both vitamin A-sufficient and -deficient individuals.

The study will focus on bovine RSV, which is a significant cause of morbidity in young cattle and is similar to the human RSV infection.

The department of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine, which is part of Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, creates an environment that promotes excellence in teaching, research and service through innovation and discovery. The interdisciplinary department imparts knowledge and skills in infectious diseases, encourages lifelong learning, conducts basic and applied research focused on animal and human health, participates in professional and community service, and partners with stakeholders to address societal needs.


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The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine, Iowa, is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in the state of Iowa, with assets of $325 million and annual grant distributions of nearly $16 million. It was created through the will of Roy J. Carver, a Muscatine industrialist and philanthropist, who died in 1981.

The Iowa State University Foundation is a private, nonprofit organization committed to securing and managing gifts that benefit Iowa State University. The Forever True, For Iowa State campaign, with a historic goal to raise $1.5 billion, will help support Iowa State in becoming the premier land-grant university for the 21st century and beyond. 

Contact:

Jodi McGill,
assistant professor, Iowa State University Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Preventative Medicine, 515.294.4607, jlmcgill@iastate.edu

Dave Gieseke,
communications manager, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, 515.294.4257, dgieseke@iastate.edu

Elaine Watkins-Miller,
communications, Iowa State University Foundation, 515.294.1005, ewmiller@foundation.iastate.edu