Faculty

I am a veterinarian with epidemiology and biostatistical training and my specialty where I practice my training is in dairy cattle health and welfare. My lab, the Dairy Epi Lab

Equine genetics and genomics; camelid genetics and genomics.

Pigmentation biology; hereditary ocular disorders; equine genomics and genetics.

My research focus is on the husbandry, behavior, and welfare of small to large scale poultry production. I am particularly interested in understanding the challenges facing small scale and backyard poultry flocks as well as the impacts of housing systems on poultry health and welfare on large scale facilities. I am also interested in developing on farm assessment tools for producers to monitor the health and welfare of their own flocks.

Affective Science, Development and Plasticity, Systems Neuroscience, Translational Neuroscience

My primary research focus is the critical neonate and broodmare, with a particular interest in periparturient conditions of the mare and foal, and hemolytic and hemorrhagic disorders and advances in treatment. I'm also interested in equine gastrointestinal conditions and renal disease.

Research interests: Animal Behavior, Neurobiology, Stress Physiology, Human-Animal Interactions, Ecological Medicine, Green Care, Care Farming

Development of statistical methods and computational algorithms for quantitative and statistical genetics, including genomic prediction and genome-wide association studies. Development of software tools for whole-genome analyses. Statistical models for –omic data.

Neonate immunity (colostrum management) in domestic and wild ruminants

Reproductive and developmental biology. Paracrine and endocrine regulation of follicle and oocyte development and carry over effects of adverse environments during folliculogenesis on embryonic development. Biology of ovarian oocyte progenitor cells (oogonial stem cells) and their potential to improve and restore female fertility. application of basic concepts of reproductive biology and assisted reproductive techniques to improve animal and human health and efficiency of agriculture worldwide.

Equine reproduction; Pathophysiology of placental development in the equine; Parental gene expression in the placenta;  Reciprocal paternal and maternal interaction in the equine's placental development; Host-pathogen interaction during placentitis; Assisted reproductive technique; Biotechnology of reproduction

Physiological ecology of aquatic species, primarily fishes.

Equine genetics, vitamin-E associated neurodegeneration

Disease ecology, small mammal conservation and disease, disease persistence in ecologically complex communities, tick-borne disease.

Avian diseases, production and management, preventive measures to improve flock health, preventive veterinary medicine, vaccine design, molecular virology, food safety, commercial poultry improvement and international poultry development programs.

The driving force in my current research program is to be at the forefront of environmental and production sustainability and ecological integrity. To achieve this vision my research is focused into three distinct, yet overlapping applied research themes; (1) Aquaculture, (2) Invasion Biology and (3) Environmental/Ecological Toxicology. This research usually addresses data gaps and provides scientific solutions, determined through rigorous experimentation, meeting the immediate biological and engineering needs of the aquaculture industry and natural resource community.

Improving nutrition of ruminant livestock through study of microbes of the rumen; increasing supply of microbial protein available to animal digestion; discovering biochemical pathways that microbes use to ferment carbohydrates in feed.

Aquatic ecology and toxicology

Research Interests: Anthrozoology, including humans and their service dogs, impacts on humans of animal death, effects of humans on their pets’ behaviors, effects of timing of neutering dogs, mahouts’ relationships with elephants; and Animal Behavior, including elephant communication and social behavior, canine behavior

Systems microbiology, microbial proceses in natural and artificial ecosystems, microbes and microbial enzymes for agricultural, medical, and industrial applications, microbe-host interaction, gastrointestinal microbiology, biofuels, bioproducts, bioremediation, microbial dark matter.

Research Interests: Ontogeny and heritability of stress-coping styles in domestic farm animals; cognitive evaluation of affective states in animals.

Endocrine regulation of mammary gland development, lactation and breast cancer, gene expression and cell-cell interactions.

Aquaculture, aquacultural engineering, cultivation systems, recirculation systems, protected species conservation, hatchery operations, animal behavior, water quality management, sperm, reproduction, nutrition, machine learning, and computational fluid dynamics

Nutrition and metabolism; micronutrient and dietary bioactive compounds; early life nutrition and disease resilience

Modeling sustainable agricultural production. Energy and nutrient requirements of cattle, swine, and poultry. Empirical, mechanistic, and simulation models of nutrient utilization. Modeling of nutrient dynamics in manure; and greenhouse gas emissions of animals, manure and soil.

Cellular osmoregulation, intracellular stress signaling, comparative genomics and proteomics of environmental adaptation in fish and mammals.

Mainly focused on clinical nutrition of dogs and cats, nutrient bioavailability, and amino acid nutrition

Regulation of ovarian function and development of reproductive programs in cattle, antimicrobial stewardship in livestock, genome microbiome interplay regulating cows health and productivity.

Feed ingredient evaluation for pigs and/or poultry; Dietary strategies on prevention and control of pig diseases; Swine nutrition on gut health and immunology; alternatives to in-feed antibiotics.

Use of transgenic livestock to fight diarrheal illnesses; microbiota modulation and resistance to disease; translational research using the pig as an animal model; goat casein genotypes and milk functionality.

My research program focuses on interplay between the behavior, welfare and management of poultry, including ducks, turkeys, laying hens and broilers; development of strategies to help minimize behavior-related poultry management issues while optimizing bird welfare and productions

Research Interests: Gut microbiome, Probiotics, Prebiotics, Bovine Mastitis

Focused on translational research in small animal gastroenterology under the One Health philosophy. One main focus of the lab is the gut microbiome and metabolome and its various effects on other organ systems including the gut-brain-axis and the peripheral immune system. Under this umbrella we also investigate novel treatment strategies including fecal microbiota transplantations. A second important research focus revolves around novel diagnostic and treatment options for feline chronic enteropathies including inflammatory bowel disease and feline low-grade intestinal T-cell lymphoma. We are closely collaborating with veterinary and human pathologists to identify novel biomarkers as diagnostic and therapeutic targets utilizing traditional (H&E, immunohistochemistry) and novel techniques. The Marsilio lab is proud to provide a diverse, inclusive, collaborative, and safe environment for everyone.

Applied ethiology, behavioral management, animal well-being, wildlife conservation, behavioral ecology.

Improving equine management, behavior and welfare with a specific interest in donkeys, mules, hinnies and working equids in developing countries.

Animal waste management.

Reproduction, male reproduction, sperm cell biology, gamete cyropreservation biology, spermatogonial stem cells and transplantation.

Physiology; musculoskeletal biology; development, maturation, and repair; extracellular matrix/niche organization; tissue engineering; functional genomics; mouse model; equine; livestock

Air quality research related to livestock production, especially quantification of ammonia, dust, and odor emissions in dairies, beef feedlots, and poultry operations. Environmental physiology research, focusing on effects of air emissions on animal health and welfare.

Areas of research include improving access to cat health and behavior care, developing strategies to reduce procedural pain and stress, mitigating agonistic interactions in socially housed animals, and studying human-animal interactions. Research is conducted with a range of species, including companion cats, dairy goats, laboratory rodents, and fish..

Investigating flexibilities in nutritional physiology and metabolism for sustainable dairy cattle production; protein and energy metabolism in dairy cattle; mammary gland utilization of amino acids and energy substrates.

Cell and molecular biology, animal growth and development of genetic markers.

Physiology and Toxicology. The long-term goal of my research is to investigate the molecular and physiological mechanisms that allow organisms to cope with environmental stressors, including both anthropogenic and natural stressors. Specifically, I am interested in how stressor and toxin exposure in early life stages of local fish and invertebrate species translate to sublethal effects at later life stages.

Food Animal Herd Health & Reproduction; Epidemiology; Antimicrobial Resistance.

Effectiveness of teaching methodologies and technologies as they apply to animal science courses; pedagogically sound approaches to curriculum and course development for traditional and non-traditional animal science students; applied livestock nutrition focusing on use of alternative feed ingredients.

Research focuses on developing and applying epidemiological tools to monitor food safety hazards and identify mitigation strategies to reduce the dissemination of foodborne pathogens in pre-harvest and the spread of infectious diseases in agricultural systems (including integrated crop-livestock, diversified, organic farms, small-scale and backyard farms).

Research interests are focused in three major areas: 1) Using "traditional" epidemiological techniques and GIS and spatial statistics to understand how avian diseases move in time and space. 2) Using Next Generation Sequencing technology to gain insights into the virulence and survivability of pathogens including Salmonella and Campylobacter. 3) Gaining a better understanding of 'micro'-commercial (i.e. small scale poultry production) with respect to environmental sustainability, poultry health, and food safety.

Dairy herd health management including hypocalcemia, lameness, judicious use of antibiotics, and feeding and silage management

Computer modeling of nutrient metabolism systems analysis of dairy feed management and production including prevention of metabolic disease, and evaluating mitochondrial function of dairy cattle.

Neuroendocrine regulation of feeding behavior, body weight and glucose control; Mechanisms linking psychological stress and metabolic disease

Ecology, conservation, and genetics of wild carnivores.

Conservation biology of wild vertebrates, primarily reptiles and amphibians.

Ecological Physiology; Integrative Stress Biology; Environmental Genomics; Climate Change Biology.

Study of genetic markers in domestic animals. Equine genomics; development of a genome-scan microsattellite panel for linkage analysis and chromosomal location of traits of interest.

Animal welfare, animal behavior, effect of environmental conditions (housing, weather) and management decisions.

Enhancing the nutritional and health value of animal-sourced foods for human consumption; Developing nutritional and management strategies to enhance the level of bioactive nutrients in animal-sourced foods; Examining health effects of functional/nutritionally enhanced animal-sourced foods using cell culture, animal models and clinical trials; Studying how animal-sourced foods foster human health (i.e. prevent chronic diseases and nutrient deficiencies), and their role in food security.

Transgenic modification of biochemical pathways to improve the quality of animal products for consumers; application of biotechnology to solve applied problems of animal agriculture.

Animal behavior, animal welfare, conservation behavior; behavioral assays of animal welfare, environmental enrichment for zoo and aquarium animals; zoo animal behavior and its impact on zoo-goers.

Meat safety; meat quality; shelf-life of meat and meat products; post-harvest food-borne pathogen control; characterizing pathogen and whole microbial community profiles present in meat production chain; effect of feeding system on degree of antimicrobial resistance and pathogen prevalence in livestock and poultry.

My research focuses on cancer biology in both human and comparative animals. We aim to understand the biological significance of tumor suppressors, e.g. p53 tumor suppressor family proteins, or oncogenes and their regulations in cancers by employing molecular cell biology, metabolomics, functional genomics (e.g. ChIP-seq and RNA-seq), bioinformatics, genetics and pharmacological approaches.

Adaptation to environmental challenges, animal behavior, energy metabolism, endocrinology, cell biology

Research in immunogenetics, molecular genetics, functional genomics, and bioinformatics in poultry. Focused on elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms of host-pathogen interaction including disease resistance, immune response, and pathogenesis of infection. The overall goals are to understand genetic regulation of host response and basic mechanisms of pathogen virulence in animals, to identify host and pathogen genes that are involved in the host-pathogen interplay. The pathogens of interest are food-borne bacteria such as Campylobacter and Salmonella and avian influenza virus.