The disease ecology component of the work piqued Kading’s interest. She returned to the job in 1999, the summer West Nile virus first appeared in the United States.

“Everything snowballed from there,” said Kading, who graduated in 2000. “I realized this was where I needed to be.”

West Nile virus was first discovered in 1937 in Uganda. The East African country is the site of Kading’s research project, “Ecology, epidemiology, and biosurveillance for emerging viral pathogens of Ugandan bats,” which studies human-bat interfaces in cave environments.

Humans’ fears of bats are largely unfounded. The risk of contracting any disease is low for people who don’t handle or eat bats. Human activities like tourism and development can disturb and displace roosting bats and put people in contact with them. 

“If we focus on conserving and protecting the species and not encroaching on or disturbing their habitat, then that helps mitigate that interface that could potentially create a public health concern,” Kading said.

Using acoustic monitoring and GPS tracking technologies, Kading gathers data on Ugandan bat species distributions and assesses human risk for contracting pathogens in high-traffic caves. The local community is involved in their work. 

“We hired bat ambassadors from each community, held a workshop and training for them, and gave them shirts and personal protective equipment,” Kading said. “These bat ambassadors are liaisons for bats and conservation in the broader community.”

Ugandan bats are important seed dispersers, helping to grow fruit. They also generate guano, which the community harvests as fertilizer. 

“Bats get a bad rap, but they’re essential to our ecosystem,” Kading said. “Human health, animal health and environmental health are all tied together. Whether I work with bats or  tropical mosquitoes, conservation issues are at the core of questions that impact public health.”

In 2016, Kading’s long-time Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) technician, “Teddy,” founded a charity. The Tedd Foundation helps orphans and disadvantaged Ugandan children receive an education. Teddy’s mission enthralled Kading. Later that year, Kading and her ex-husband Brian founded Musoke International, a charity pledging tuition support to Tedd Orphanage students. Musoke, which means rainbow in Uganda, has supported 133 students. Eighteen have graduated, and 12 more will graduate this winter. 

“In 2019, we had a big party,” Kading said. “It was heartwarming and emotional to meet the kids we helped to support.”

As an educator, Kading knows the difference a good teacher can make. She spent months in UD’s Ecology Woods, assisting Professor Emeritus Roland Roth with his well-known study of the wood thrush.

“Each bird had an identifying code, like a name,” Kading said. “Dr. Roth knew those birds individually. He could tell us where each bird’s nest was and who had changed their nesting location from the previous summer. He knew where everybody was supposed to be, and if a bird was caught in a mist net with a different mate, that was scandalous.”

Kading said her time in Ecology Woods influenced her teaching methodology.

“I learned a lot from Dr. Roth. He cared about his students and inspired me to move forward in an academic career, which is where I am now,” she said. “With my international work, I try to bring students as much as possible so they have that experience of getting out into the field. Working alongside them and encouraging them, being a good mentor — it’s something I’ve been passionate about ever since my time at UD with Dr. Roth.”

As an associate professor of microbiology, immunology and pathology at Colorado State University, Kading works on disease ecology and transmission and ecology of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases like Zika, West Nile and emerging arboviruses (viruses transmitted by arthropods) like Rift Valley fever virus.

“We’re asking questions like, how are these viruses spread in nature?” Kading said. “What are the mosquitoes feeding on? How is transmission occurring? What are the drivers of transmission seasonality?”

In collaboration with Christopher Snow, a colleague from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Kading experiments with a new way to track mosquitos: feeding synthetic protein microcrystals loaded with DNA barcodes to larvae.

“Then, during normal surveillance for arboviruses, where we’re trapping adult mosquitoes and testing them for viruses, we could do another test to detect the barcode and learn where the mosquito came from,” Kading said.

Kading said that information could help determine how viruses move or locate hotspots that contribute to the infectious mosquito population.

“We’ve shown in the lab that these [barcodes] will persist through development and metamorphosis in the mosquito,” Kading said.

Kading is currently running pilot field trials.

“It’s a fun project to bring students on,” Kading said. “There is a heavy molecular component with the barcoding, and then there is the field component with the mosquito trapping, so they get to see both sides of the picture.”

Kading completed her postdoctoral research at the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases in Fort Collins, Colorado. She stayed on in different fellowship programs for seven and a half years. Today, Kading’s lab is part of the Rockies and High Plains Vector-borne Diseases Center (RaHP VEC), a regional training and evaluation center funded by the CDC. The center aims to coordinate efforts to reduce the spread of mosquito, tick and flea-borne diseases in the Mountain West and High Plains. 

“The idea is to build up the workforce capacity for vector-borne diseases around the country,” Kading said. “Some of what we’re doing is building up educational opportunities within a university setting, but also creating opportunities with other agencies and industry partners in our region for workforce training.”

Kading advises her students and fellow Blue Hens to stay curious and open-minded.

“Teenage Rebekah never would have thought this is what I’d be doing,” Kading said. “Follow your interests, explore new things, and don’t be afraid to push yourself out of your comfort zone. You never know where that might lead!”

To support UD’s Ecology Woods and undergraduate research experiences for Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology students, donate to the Dr. Roland Ecology Woods Fund.