Dr Sonja Jeckel
MRCVS
Senior Lecturer in Farm Animal Diagnostics
Department: Pathobiology & Population Sciences
Campus: Hawkshead
Research Groups: Pathogen Flow in Ecosystems, IRLFS (Research Programme)
Sonja joined the Royal Veterinary College in 2004 and is working as Lecturer for Farm Animal Disease Diagnostics in the Department of Pathobiology and Population Sciences (PPS). She is running the RVC-Farm Animal Pathology and Diagnostics Services, a third party post mortem provider for APHA and is responsible for carrying out post mortem examinations on farmed animal species and contributing to National Veterinary Disease Surveillance.
Sonja graduated with a veterinary degree from the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany, in 1995. She worked thereafter for 2.5 years in mixed practice in Devon before carrying out a PhD equivalent in molecular virology of papillomaviruses at the Eberhard-Karls- University Tuebingen, Germany. Thereafter she worked for 1.5 years as a post-doctorate researcher at Pfizer in Sandwich, UK. In September 2004 she joined the Royal Veterinary College as Veterinary Investigation Officer and subsequently as Lecturer and Senior Lecturer for Farm Animal Disease Diagnostics. in 2021 she became a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologist (Veterinary Pathology - Large Animals) by examination.
Sonja's main research interests include farm animal diseases and in particular infectious diseases.
Hull, K.D., Jeckel, S., Williams, J.M., Ciavaglia, S.A., Webster, L.M., Fitzgerald, E., Chang, Y., & Martineau, H.M. (2021). Fox (Vulpes vulpes) involvement identified in a series of cat carcass mutilations. Veterinary Pathology, 59, 299 - 309.
Dastjerdi, A., Jeckel, S., Davies, H., Irving, J.R., Longue, C., Plummer, C., Vidovszky, M.Z., Harrach, B., Chantrey, J., Martineau, H.M., & Williams, J. (2021). Novel adenovirus associated with necrotizing bronchiolitis in a captive reindeer (Rangifer tarandus). Transboundary and emerging diseases.
Bianco, Carlo & Jeckel, Sonja. (2020). Image Challenge: Small ruminant pathology sheep mastitis sequela. 10.1177/0300985819892998. Veterinary Pathology 57(2) 351- 352
Mitchell, S., Bell, S., Wright, I., Wall, R., Jeckel, S., Blake, D., . . . Walsh, A. (2016). Tongue worm (Linguatula species) in stray dogs imported into the UK. Veterinary Record, 179(10), 259-U259. doi: 10.1136/vr.i4829
Jeckel, S., Wood, A., Grant, K., Amar, C., King, S. A., Whatmore, A. M., . . . Welchman, D. d. B. (2015). Outbreak of encephalitic listeriosis in red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa). Avian pathology : journal of the W.V.P.A, 44(4), 269-277. doi: 10.1080/03079457.2015.1042427
Rutherford, S. J., Jeckel, S., & Ridler, A. (2015). Characteristics of sheep flocks affected by Streptococcus dysgalactiae arthritis. Veterinary Record, 176(17). doi: 10.1136/vr.102781
Dixon, J., Weller, R., Jeckel, S., Pool, R., & McSloy, A. (2015). IMAGING DIAGNOSIS-THE COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHIC APPEARANCE OF A GIANT CELL TUMOR AFFECTING THE MANDIBLE IN A PYGMY GOAT. Vet Radiol Ultrasound. doi: 10.1111/vru.12319
Watson, E., Jeckel, S., Snow, L., Stubbs, R., Teale, C., Wearing, H., . . . Coldham, N. (2012). Epidemiology of extended spectrum beta-lactamase E-coli (CTX-M-15) on a commercial dairy farm. Veterinary Microbiology, 154(3-4), 339-346. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2011.07.020
Jeckel, S., Pearson, R., Brewster, V., Brownlie, J., & Nevel, M. (2012). Role for students in surveillance. Veterinary Record, 171(7), 181-182. doi: 10.1136/vr.e5550
Jeckel, S., Bidewell, C., Everest, D., McInnes, C., Wood, A., Dare, J., & Schock, A. (2011). BOVINE INFECTIOUS DISEASE Severe oesophagitis in an adult bull caused by bovine papular stomatitis virus. Veterinary Record, 169(12), 317-317. doi: 10.1136/vr.d5894
Jeckel, S., Huber, E., Stubenrauch, F., & Iftner, T. (2002). A transactivator function of cottontail rabbit papillomavirus E2 is essential for tumor induction in rabbits. Journal of Virology, 76(22), 11209-11215. doi: 10.1128/jvi.76.22.11209-11215.2002
Jeckel, S., Loetzsch, E., Huber, E., Stubenrauch, F., & Iftner, T. (2003). Identification of the E9 boolean AND E2C cDNA and functional characterization of the gene product reveal a new repressor of transcription and replication in cottontail rabbit papillomavirus. Journal of Virology, 77(16), 8736-8744. doi: 10.1128/jvi.77.16.8736-8744.2003
Sonja is teaching on several strands of different undergraduate teaching and contibutes to pathology resident training. She also teaches regularly on the pathology Intramural Rotations, carrying out and discussing post mortem examinations of submitted farm animal cases with the students. Sonja holds a postgraduate certificate in veterinary education and is a Fellow of the Higher education Academy.
Sonja runs the RVC- Farm Animal Pathology and Diagnostics services, an external partner post mortem provider for APHA. Data from these post mortem examinations contribute to National Veterinary Disease surveillance. These post mortem examinations also contribute to undergraduate and pathology senior clinical training scholar training. Sonja has also an interest in avian and wildlife pathology.
Sonja has strong links to the APHA Surveillance Intelligence Unit and her work contributes to their National Veterinary Disease Surveillance in England and Wales.
Sonja is a member of the APHA Avian Expert Group and contributes to the APHA Cattle and Small ruminant expert groups.