International Collaboration Targets Costly Livestock Diseases
Congratulations to Research Assistant Professor Karina Torres-Castro on a major milestone: the publication of her paper, “Microfluidic Dielectrophoretic Platform for the Manipulation of Brucella abortus Bacteria:
Toward Rapid Diagnostic Solutions.” This marks her first publication as a co-PI and her first since joining the Department
of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University.
This impactful study is the result of a dynamic collaboration with master’s students Katherine Acuña Umaña (first author), Estefany García Martínez, Marco Mairena Salazar, and Nazareth Ruiz Villalobos, along with external collaborators Caterina Guzman-Verri and Leonardo Lesser from the University of Costa Rica.
The team’s work addresses a significant public health and economic challenge: developing
rapid, microfluidic pathogen-sensing platforms to detect cattle diseases that cost
the livestock industry millions of dollars each year, particularly in tropical regions.
Their innovative approach brings the field one step closer to faster, more accessible
diagnostic solutions.