Dr. Basaraba received his DVM degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University (WSU) in 1985. After a short time in a private, mixed veterinary practice in Chugiak Alaska, Dr. Basaraba returned to WSU and completed his PhD graduate degree in 1991 in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology. Dr. Basaraba was certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists (ACVP) in 1992 while holding a faculty position in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University from 1991 till 1999. In 1999 he accepted his current position in the Mycobacterial Research Laboratory and the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University.
Dr. Basaraba has an interest in animal models of human tuberculosis (TB) with a special interest in human and animal TB pathology, lesion pathogenesis and in vivohost-pathogen interactions. Dr. Basaraba’s recent interests include modeling Mycobacteria tuberculosis(Mtb) infection in animals with concurrent, noncommunicable diseases know to be TB risk factors in humans. In particular, Dr. Basaraba’s laboratory has developed the first model of Mtb infection in guinea pigs with diet-induced type 2 diabetes. This model is being used to better understand the basic pathogenesis of TB / type 2 diabetes comorbidity and to test both TB and diabetes drugs to better control Mtb infection in diabetics. His laboratory is also interested in using the diabetic guinea pig model to test candidate TB vaccines intended for use in humans. Dr. Basaraba’s laboratory is also studying the molecular mechanisms of in vivo drug-tolerance expressed by Mtb especially when associated with macromolecules derived from necrotic host cells. Dr. Basaraba’s laboratory has developed a novel in vitro model of Mtb drug tolerance that is currently being used to test new TB treatment strategies. These include new antimicrobial drugs and drug combinations as well as novel adjunct therapy that can be used to potentiate existing TB drugs.