Faculty

Joseph L. Bryant, D.V.M.
Director of the Animal Models Division
jbryant2@ihv.umaryland.edu

Joseph L. Bryant, DVM, directs the IHV’s Animal Models Division and is director of the Animal Core Facility at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. A board certified Laboratory Animal Veterinarian with a background in Comparative Medicine, Dr. Bryant’s current research program is an extension of work begun at the National Institutes of Health, where he played a major role in developing a transgenic and gene Knockout Program.

His research team at the IHV has created the first transgenic rats whose DNA has been manipulated to incorporate genes of HIV-1. The rat model opens new areas of human HIV/AIDS study for scientists; its potential enhanced by similarities in the structure of the rat genome with humans.

Other research efforts focus on the mechanisms of human diseases caused by viruses and on details of virus replication to develop better therapies and improved or new diagnostics. The current focus of this work is on the continual development of animal models for AIDS and AIDS-associated malignancies, such as Kaposi’s sarcoma and B-cell lymphoma, as well as animal models for breast and prostate cancer.

Bryant previously was an Assistant Professor and Director of Laboratory Animal Resources at North Carolina A&T State University, Assistant Professor and Director of Laboratory Animal Care at Tuskegee Institute School of Veterinary Medicine and was a public health officer and Chief of the Animal Care Program, National Institute of Dental Research, National Institutes of Health. He also served as a Veterinary Medical Officer in the U.S. Army Reserves.