25 August 2026

Nabila Nawar Binti successfully defended her A exam, titled: Association Between Environmental Enteric Dysfunction, Maternal Antibodies, and Oral Rotavirus Vaccine Efficacy. Examined by committee members: Dr. Gary R. Whittaker, Dr. Brian D. Rudd and Dr. Mandy J. McGeachy.  Congratulations on becoming a PhD Candidate Nabila!

19 August 2026

Taylor McGee was formally coated by Sarah as he begins the second year of his PhD in the Biomedical & Biological Sciences (BBS) program. Congratulations Taylor!

10-14 August 2026

The Caddy & Flyak Lab hosted a structured writing week. Trainees benefited from focused writing time, as well as a workshop, seminar, and 1:1 coaching from Stephen Matheson (Life Science Editors). The week was a great success, with trainees working toward their individual goals and writing a range of written work, including manuscripts, grants, A-exam proposals, and university science magazine articles.

6-8 August 2026

Sarah Caddy, Brychan Thomas and the Cornell summer research vet students attended the Veterinary Scholars Symposium and Combined Degree Colloquium, hosed by North Carolina State University. Brilliant job everyone!

3 August 2026

Brychan Thomas, our Veterinary Investigation & Leadership Program (VILP) scholar, presented an excellent three-minute thesis. Titled: Are cancerous canine B cells sugary? This showcased 10 weeks of hard work, curiosity, and dedication.

27-30 July 2026

The Caddy Lab attended the American Society for Virology’s 45th Annual Meeting, hosted by the University of Minnesota on its Twin Cities campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Special mention to rising third-year graduate student Nabila Nawar Binti, who aced her first conference with a flash talk and poster presentation.

12-15 July 2026

Dr. Sarah Caddy was invited to present at the 7th International Rhodococcus equi Workshop in Hokkaido, Japan.

R. equi is a soil-dwelling bacterium that causes severe, life-threatening pneumonia in young foals, often requiring intensive antibiotic treatment. Sarah's lab is tackling this problem from a different angle: understanding how maternal antibodies protect foals from infection. The impact doesn't stop with horses. R. equi is also a zoonotic pathogen, capable of causing serious illness in immunocompromised people. Insights from this research could ultimately help protect vulnerable human populations too.

1 July 2026

Dr. Sarah Caddy gave a seminar at the amazing MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) whilst on her trip back to the UK. She reports that it was lovely to return to her post doc home and showcase what the Caddy Lab has achieved in our first 4 years. Thank you to Leo James for the invite!

18 June 2026

The whole Baker Institute enjoyed a wonderful picnic at Myers Park to celebrate summer. Awards won by our trainees were the Optimist Award (Nabila), the Guardian Award (Taylor), the Perfectionist Award (Sarah), the Best Lab Decorator Award (Serena), and the Lactation Award for most species milked (Tawny).

15-19 April 2026

The two Sarahs (Caddy and Woodyear) had a wonderful roadtrip to AAI in Boston. It was a great opportunity to present our work on intracellular neutralization and maternal antibodies. Wonderfully convenient timing for Sarah W to run her first Boston Marathon too on the 20th of April!

29 April 2026

Institute director, Dr. Amanda de Mestre (left), formally recognized several outstanding trainees with the Bicknese and Daversa Scholarship annual awards.

The Bicknese Family Prize was created to support and elevate women scientists at pivotal stages of their careers. 2024 Recipient: Sarah Woodyear. The Daversa Scholarship, established in memory of a beloved companion animal, supports emerging scientists dedicated to advancing animal and human health through discovery-driven research. 2025 Recipient: Serena Teh.

7 April 2026

We got a promising score last summer and the Notice of Award has arrived! We are so thankful to all the scientists and clinicians who have helped us get this far, with special mentions to Michelo Simuyandi at Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ), Sallie Permar at Weill Cornell Medicine and Kristin Scheible at University of Rochester Medical Center. We’re excited to advance our research understanding the global impact of maternal antibodies on rotavirus vaccination.

2 April 2026

We celebrated everyone’s individual accomplishments with a lab lunch at Modern Ohana. Including a huge welcome back to the lab to Taylor McGee, who is now officially our newest graduate student!

8-13 March 2026

Sarah Caddy and third-year graduate student Serena Teh had a brilliant week in Ventura Beach California at the 2026 Antibody Biology and Engineering conference GRC. They enjoyed presenting work on vaccine correlates of protection and maternal antibodies. Many thanks to the wonderful organizers Rob N. de Jong and Jenna Guthmiller.

10 February 2026

Thank you to the Harry M. Zweig Memorial Fund for Equine Research for a generous grant to study maternal antibodies in horses. We aim to understand which antibodies are most readily delivered to foals in colostrum; stronger foals = healther horses.

14 January 2026

Find out more about ‘Quantifying maternal antibody transfer to colostrum and cord blood reveals virus-specific selectivity in dogs’ HERE.

12-13 January 2026

We are delighted to have joined the Gates Foundation Next Generation Rotavirus Vaccine Consortium. PI Sarah Caddy met with the team at the Gates headquarters in Seattle, ready for some pre-clinical vaccine testing. Pictured with rotavirus rockstars Siyuan Ding, Mary Estes and Sue Crawford.