I am a second-year doctoral student at Texas A&M University in the Valeris-Chacin Lab. I hold a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Wildlife Biology from West Texas A&M University. I began my graduate school journey pursuing my Master of Science with Dr. Valeris-Chacin, ultimately transitioning completely into a PhD position after a year and a half in the program. My research focuses on how we can use sequencing technology to improve the detection of etiologically important bacteria in food systems. My research goal is to uncover the underlying cause of variation in bovine respiratory disease (BRD) cases within feedlot cattle.

You can learn more about Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) from this TAMU VMBS news article featuring Dr. Matthew Scott.

Valeris-Chacin Lab

The Valeris-Chacin lab uses genomic data to study the causes of bacterial diseases in livestock animals and across complex food systems. Dr. Valeris-Chacin is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences in the Department of Pathobiology. He was recently awarded a USDA Grant to study the molecular epidemiology of Mycoplasma bovis in Bovine Respiratory Disease (BDR) from feedlot cattle.