Spotlight on the Almeida Lab
Dr. Marcelo Almeida
Assistant Professor of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine
Research Area
Dr. Marcelo Almeida has concentrated his research in postweaning diarrhea of pigs caused by Esherichia coli and systemic disease due to PRRSV. He also has ongoing collaborations exploring PEDV, sapovirus, Pasteurella multocida, PCV2, PCV3, and sow mortality.
Origins
Almeida has been working with pigs since graduating from veterinary school. He was a veterinarian in a production system for a couple of years before working for different companies providing technical services to veterinarians and producers in Brazil and throughout South America. His interest in pathogens comes from observing the impact they cause in the U.S. swine industry and the desire to understand how he and his collaborators can help veterinarians and producers fight back and improve the health of pigs.
Funding
- $126,137, 1-year grant from the Swine Health Information Center investigating the infection dynamics of porcine sapovirus in commercial pig populations
- $35,000, 1-year grant from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians investigating the genomic and epidemiological characterization of Pasteurella multocida from diagnostic swine cases and its relationship with coinfections, lesion patterns, and animal age
- $30,000, 1-year grant from the Iowa Livestock Health Advisory Council investigating the efficacy of competitive exclusion culture to control contemporary enterotoxigenic strains of E. coli in the face of an outbreak
- $26,495, 1-year grant from the American Association of Swine Veterinarians testing the roles of ionized calcium and maternal anemia in the uterine fatigue and farrowing failure
Publications
- “Emergence of Escherichia coli Hybrid Pathotype ETEC/STEC: A Macroepidemiolgical Approach of Molecular Characterization in the United States Swine Population, Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 2026
- “Overview of Porcine Interstitial and Bronchointerstitial Pneumonia: Infectious and Non-Infectious Causes,” Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, 2026
- “Effect if Dietary Crude Protein and Acid-Binding Capacity on Growth Performance, Serum Cytokine Concentration, and Intestinal Morphology in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F18 Challenged Concentration, and Intestinal Morphology in Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli F18 Challenged Nursery Pigs,” Journal of Animal Science, 2026
Results
Almeida’s Escherichia coli research has characterized the contemporary strains affecting pigs, which may help in designing better vaccines in health. His research group has fine tuned the use of competitive exclusion products to prevent post weaning diarrhea caused by E. coli.
“Our goal is to conduct research that can be directly applied to the field. Characterization of contemporary E. coli strains can help with improved selection of isolates for vaccine development, but also allows us to understand which antibiotics are the best options for treating pigs today. The overarching goals and benefits of the research we are pursuing are improving survivability, efficiency, welfare for the pigs which in turn would help employee morale and overall satisfaction of stakeholders involved in the swine industry.”
Research Team
Dr. Marcelo Almeida
PhD Students: Rodrigo Paiva, Laura Solis and Alejandrina da Silva
Collaborators: College of Veterinary Medicine faculty and researchers at Auburn University and the Universite de Montreal.
September 2026