Bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) is considered the costliest disease facing cattle producers today, with estimated costs exceeding $1 billion annually. Recent National Animal Health Monitoring System surveys confirm that respiratory disease continues as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in U.S. feedlots and the most common cause of weaned dairy heifer mortality.
Mission
The Ruminant Diseases and Immunology Unit conducts basic and applied research in the identification of host factors, as well as pathogen factors, that will enable more efficient methods of mastitis and respiratory disease control in cattle. Immunologic, microbiologic, genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic approaches are used to develop innovative intervention strategies that would be used as alternative to antibiotics to mitigate economic losses incurred by cattle producers.People
