Lena-Mari Tamminen

Im a veterinary epidemiologist with a particular interest in infectious diseases, interrelated and complicated associations with a passion for research communication and teaching epidemiology. Currently leading a project on the effects of extreme weather on Swedish dairy cattle and participating in other projects about digitalisation, animal welfare, communication and disease transmission.  

In 2020 I defended my thesis about risk factors for shedding and colonization of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 in cattle. The project was multidisciplinary, combining epidemiology, animal welfare, microbiology and molecular biology when investigating individual risk factors like welfare, stress and microbiota and risk factors associated with management for a high prevalence of bacteria on herd level.

My main interest and aim for the future is to work in research projects combining classical epidemiology and molecular epidemiology with other areas such as physiology, animal welfare and animal health economics to give a broader, multidisciplinary picture of complex associations.

I have a special interest in resistance to infectious diseases, especially in association with chronic stress, and host-pathogen-environment interactions.

In veterinary epidemiology: 

Course leader for Veterinary public health including applied epidemiology and epizootilogy (VM0129, 5 ECT) with responisbility for teaching applied epidemiology and public health (2019-2022). 

Course leader for Population medicine (TU0002, 11.5 HP) and responsible for teaching basic epidemiology (2019-2022). 

Lecturing “Diagnostic tests” including sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value (2016 - 2022).

Leading group discussions and seminars in critical examination, the role of veterinarians in crisis and epidemiological investigation of a food related outbreak (2015-2018)

Simulation exercises: 

Leading full-scale simulations for veterinary students in their final year with focus on handling acute cases and communicating with owners (2016-2019). 

Ruminant medicine: 

·       Assisting teacher/clinical veterinarian at the ruminant clinic (2013-2016)

·       Methods for euthanasia of large animals including practical handling of captive bolt (2015-2017)

·       Placing of intravenous catheters in the jugular vein of cattle – practical session (2014-2017)

Project title: Risk factors for supershedding of VTEC O157:H7 in dairy cattle

Supervisors: Prof U. Emanuelson, Prof L. Keeling, Dr E. Eriksson, Dr J. Dicksved, Prof emeritus A. Alenius

Project description: VTEC O157 is an important zoonosis. The source is cattle that shed the bacteria in their feces without showing symptoms of infection. The largest proportion of the bacteria is shed by a small proportion of animals that become colonised in the terminal rectum. In this multidisciplinary project the aim is to study risk factors for super-shedding and colonisation on host, pathogen and management levels by combining epidemiology, animal welfare, microbiology, bioinformatics and molecular biology.

Im actively collaborating with Swedish agencies in developing methods for controlling VTEC O157:H7 on farms. 

Education: 

2007- 2013
Degree of Master of Science in Veterinary Medicine
Swedish University of agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden

Work experience: 

July 2015 and July 2016
Large animal veterinarian, Ambulatory Clinic, The University Animal hospital
Clinical veterinarian treating livestock (mainly cattle and sheep) and horses in the field.

January 2014 – March 2015
Research assistant, Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of agricultural Sciences
Working half-time on a scientific publication of on-farm handling of VTEC O157:H7 and half time on literature review on the efficacy of phytotherapeutic remedies for food producing animals as well as writing grant proposal for PhD-project.

August – December 2013
Teaching veterinarian, Ruminant Clinic, Swedish University of agricultural Sciences,
Clinical work as a teaching veterinarian for veterinary students in their clinical rotation.

February – May 2013
Research assistant, Department of economics, Swedish University of agricultural Sciences
Performing literature review identifying welfare problems in dairy production and how they can be improved.

May – August 2012 and May – August 2013
Large animal veterinarian, Distriktsveterinärerna, Roma
Clinical veterinarian treating livestock (mainly cattle and sheep) and horses in the field.

Tamminen LM., Fransson H., Tråvén M., Aspán A., Alenius S., Emanuelson U., Dreimanis I., Törnquist M., Eriksson E. (2017) Handling of a beef farm linked to an outbreak of hypervirulent VTEC O157:H7 in Sweden. Veterinary Record.

Blanco-Penedo, I., Fernández González, C., Tamminen, LM., Sundrum, A., Emanuelson, U. (2017) Priorities and Future Actions for an Effective Use of Phytotherapy in Livestock—Outputs from an Expert Workshop. Front. Vet. Sci. Volume 4: 248.

Tamminen, L-M., Emanuelson, U., Blanco-Penedo, I. (2018) Systematic review of phytotherapic treatments for different farm animals under European conditions. Front. Vet. Sci. Volume 5, Article 140, 1-11

Tamminen, L.-M., Söderlund, R., A.Wilkinson, D., Torsein, M., Eriksson, E., Churakov, M., Dicksved, J., Keeling, L.J., Emanuelson, U., (2019) Risk factors and dynamics of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli O157:H7 on cattle farms: An observational study combining information from questionnaires, spatial data and molecular analyses. Prev. Vet. Med. 104726. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.prevetmed.2019.104726

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lena_Mari_Tamminen