With the goal of optimizing the use of antibiotics in livestock, the International Consortium for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Agriculture has awarded two grants to Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources faculty members to develop management strategies that improve judicious antibiotic use in beef cattle.

Saharah Chapotin, executive director of the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, noted that by investigating novel and potentially high-impact solutions to promote targeted antibiotic use and advance animal health and welfare, the grant-funded projects speak to the need to accelerate antibiotic stewardship research.

Among the recent grants awarded to Texas Tech researchers are:

• Vinicius Machado, Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Science. Machado received $97,400 to investigate how beef cattle immune systems react throughout the lifecycle of F. necrophorum. Machado's research is identifying potential pathways in which the bacteria subvert the hosts' defenses during the development of liver abscess to lay the foundation for the formation of novel approaches, such as alternative drugs, that can potentially replace antimicrobials in liver abscess control and prevention strategies. Texas Tech is contributing additional funding for a total $195,140 investment.
• Kristin Hales, Associate Professor & Thorton Distinguished Chair, Department of Animal & Food Sciences. She received $125,000 to investigate the gastrointestinal location, concentration and movement of F. necrophorum and Salmonella enterica, as well as the other organisms that live in the intestines of cattle with liver abscesses. This first phase of Hales' research will inform a methodology to reduce F. necrophorum through a direct-fed microbial. Texas Tech is contributing additional funding for a total $250,000 investment.

CONTACT: Christy Bratcher, Associate Dean for Research, Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 742-2808 or christy.bratcher@ttu.edu  

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