New techniques in biotechnology are leading to more effective vaccines in veterinary medicine. Monday morning, July 29, UC Davis professor Dr. Laurel Gershwin will review three techniques being used in modern vaccinology -- synthetic peptides, subunit vaccines containing proteins made by recombinant DNA, and viruses that can vaccinate an animal against other diseases. Chair of the veterinary medical microbiology and immunology department, Gershwin will also discuss various research projects at UC Davis, including a genetically engineered rinderpest vaccine currently being tested in Ethiopia. The list of symposium speakers includes UC Davis assistant professor Dr. James Cullor. Cullor will share his success story of adapting a current technology to produce a vaccine that has reduced the incidence of coliform mastitis -- a sometimes deadly and often economically threatening disease of the bovine mammary glands -- up to 80 percent in vaccinated cows. The J5-TC vaccine, based on the E.coli core antigen theory, is now available only in the state of California.