College of Veterinary Medicine
Ossiboff Lab
Led by Robert J Ossiboff · Comparative, Diagnostic, and Population Medicine
What we study
The lab studies diseases in reptiles and amphibians, focusing on viruses, pathogens, and tissue cultures. They work with wildlife species to improve diagnostics and research tools.
What working here is like
- Wet lab
- Wild animals
- Cells in a dish
- Projects
- 4
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Establishing in vitro tissue culture cell lines from non-domestic species
Establishes cell lines grown in the lab from tissue of non-domestic species, such as reptiles and amphibians, to create tools for studying their diseases.
Characterizing serpentoviruses (nidoviruses)
Characterizes serpentoviruses, a group of nidoviruses that infect reptiles, to understand how they cause disease and how to detect them.
Show 2 more projectsShow fewer
Studying the pathogenesis of Batrachochytrium spp. infections
Studies how Batrachochytrium fungi, which infect amphibians, cause disease in the body, to improve understanding of the amphibian declines they drive.
Characterization and classification of novel infectious diseases of reptiles and amphibians
Identifying and classifying new diseases in reptiles and amphibians.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- Overcoming Detection Lag in a Cryptic Panzootic: Chytrid Invasion Linked to Historically Enigmatic Amphibian Declines in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
2026 · Molecular Ecology
Uses museum specimens to study how chytrid fungus spread in Brazilian amphibians.
- Reptarenaviruses in Wild- and Captive-Origin Boid and Pythonid Snakes in Peru
2026 · Animals
Tests whether reptarenaviruses are present in wild and captive snakes in Peru.
Show 3 more papersShow fewer
- Herpetofauna Host Range Expansion of the Pentastome, Levisunguis subaequalis (Pentastomida: Porocephalida: Sebekidae), in Florida, USA
2026 · Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery
Finds a parasite in two new snake and frog species, expanding its known host range.
- Diagnostic Challenge: Cutaneous Nodules in a Free-ranging Florida Banded Water Snake (Nerodia fasciata pictiventris)
2026 · Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery
- Diagnostic Challenge: Swollen and Pale Free-ranging Larval Gopher Frog (Lithobates capito)
2026 · Journal of Herpetological Medicine and Surgery
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Robert J Ossiboff hasn't set up this page yet. Their UF Scholars profile lists their publications.