Investigating therapeutic potentials of milk microbiota for controlling mastitis in dairy cows

Mastitis is the most frequent and costly disease of dairy cows, with costs estimated at $670M/year in Canada. Mastitis is also the main reason for antimicrobial use in dairy herds, raising great concerns regarding emergence of antimicrobial resistance in critical pathogens capable of infecting humans. Implementation of management and nutritional strategies that can improve mammary health and immune homeostasis, together with development of alternative therapeutics that can effectively control mastitis pathogens while reducing the use of antimicrobials is therefore a top research priority for the dairy industry worldwide. This project aims to comprehensively investigate the effect of a postbiotic dietary supplement (NutriTek™, Diamond V) on modulation of the microbial community, immune homeostasis, and susceptibility of mammary gland to mastitis pathogens. Furthermore, we will use state-of-the-art microbial culturing and genomics techniques to isolates and characterize beneficial bacteria and microbial metabolites from milk of healthy cows to develop novel bio-therapeutics against mastitis pathogens.

Faculty Supervisor:

Michael Surette

Student:

Hooman Derakhshani

Partner:

Cargill Limited

Discipline:

Medicine

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

McMaster University