December 15, 2025
The Iowa Livestock Health Advisory Council (ILHAC) has awarded $25,000 grants to four College of Veterinary Medicine faculty members in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine.
The selected projects are short, high impact projects that are focused on emerging and high consequence topics.
Recipients include:
- Daniel Linhares, Roy A. Schultz Professor in Swine Medicine, “Genomic Monitoring of PRRSV Recombination Following Therapeutic Vaccination”
- Pablo Pineyro, associate professor, “Detection and Genomic Characterization of Mycoplasma Hyopneumoniae Using NGS Approaches to Identify Genes Associated with Antimicrobial Resistance”
- Yuko Sato, associate professor, “Development of a Nested PCR Assay to Differentiate Vaccinal and Wild-Type Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) Subtypes B and B in U.S. Poultry.”
- Jianqiang Zhang, Lora and Ross Endowed Professor, “Safety and Efficacy of a Bivalent Inactivated Vaccine Against Avian Metapneumovirus (aMPV) Subtypes A and B: A Proof-of-Concept in Turkeys”
Earlier this year, ILHAC also awarded $30,000 grants to seven CVM researchers. Recipients are faculty members in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine unless noted.
- Joaquin Caceres, assistant professor of veterinary microbiology and preventive medicine, “Influenza A (H5N1): Predicting Host Range in Livestock Species and Susceptibility to Ex Vivo Air-Liquid Interface Swine Respiratory Epithelial Cell Culture Models”
- Silvia Carnaccini, assistant professor, “Development of an Avian Metapneumovirus Reverse Genetics System for the Generation of Modified Live Vaccines and Pathogenesis Studies”
- Terry Engelken, professor, “Development and Evaluation of a Multi-Bacterial Bacterin for Vaccination Against Digital Dermatitis”
- Patrick Gorden, professor, “Evaluation of an Innovative Dairy Cattle Vaccine for High Path Avian Influenza”
- Katy Martin, assistant professor, veterinary pathology, “Evaluation of Geraniol and Carvacrol as Novel Therapeutics for Anthelmintic Resistant Haemonchus Contortus”
- Marcelo Almeida, assistant professor, “The Efficacy of Competitive Exclusion Culture to Control Contemporary Enterotoxigenic Strains of E. coli in the Face of an Outbreak”
- Derald Holtkamp, professor, “Identification of Biosecurity Hazards by Conducting Prospective Biosecurity Hazard Analysis Using the Standardized Outbreak Investigation Program”
ILHAC was created in 1977 to strengthen Iowa’s animal-agriculture industry as a cooperative effort between Iowa livestock industry stakeholders, the State of Iowa and the College of Veterinary Medicine. ILHAC is funded annually through State of Iowa Education Appropriations.
