Past Members

Breno joined as a MAST trainee. Breno earned his degree in Veterinary Medicine in Brazil and later specialized in feedlot management. Before joining our team, he worked at JBS Feedlots, where he was responsible for overseeing the nutrition and traceability of 50,000 animals each year. Breno brought his industry experience and a unique perspective to the Caixeta Lab, where he was an integral part of our research from January 2025. Breno left the Caixeta Lab to pursue a master's degree at Texas A&M University.

Santiago Giraldo was a member of the Caixeta Lab in different roles between 2023-2025. He contributed significantly to our research programs focused on improving dairy production and animal welfare. Born in Virginia, and raised in Colombia, where he earned his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree, Santiago brought a wealth of knowledge to our team. He has since relocated to Florida with his partner.

Born in Brazil, Marina obtained her DVM degree in 2020 Following graduation, she completed a residency program in dairy inspection, where she focused on milk quality through both laboratory and on-farm work. From 2022 to 2025, Marina was part of the Caixeta Lab at the University of Minnesota, where she earned her Master’s degree in Veterinary Medicine. Her research focused on the management of fresh cows, with a particular emphasis on hyperketonemia treatments. After graduating, Marina joined DeLaval as a Field Research Specialist. 

Cainan, originally from Brazil, earned his DVM from Londrina State University (UEL) in 2018. He gained experience in dairy production medicine, working in Wisconsin as a calf-raising intern and in Minnesota as a herdsperson. From November 2019 to July 2021, he was a Senior Laboratory Technician in the Caixeta Lab, contributing to numerous projects on transition cow health and reproduction management. After that, Cainan continued to contribute to the lab as a PhD student, completing his training in July 2025. Cainan is now working for Genex.

Erika is a biologist with a master’s degree and PhD in Microbiology from São Paulo State University, Brazil, specializing in pathogens linked to bovine mastitis. She has conducted research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California, Davis, focusing on milk and rumen microbiomes. From July 2024 to July 2025, she was a visiting researcher in the Caixeta Lab, where she explored the teat skin microbiome as a potential target for preventing S. aureus mastitis without antimicrobial use. She retuned to her postdoctoral researcher position at the University of São Paulo, Brazil after her time with us. 

Antony, originally from São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil, earned his bachelor's degree in Animal Science from São Paulo State University, where he gained experience in nutrition, production, welfare, meat science, and research on dairy and beef cattle. He was part of the Caixeta Lab from July 2024 until June 2025, contributing to projects focused on dairy cow health and management. After leaving the Caixeta Lab Antony  enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania graduate program to pursue a master’s degree in dairy nutrition.

Natali was an Agricultural Engineering student at the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba, PR, Brazil, when she completed her internship in our lab. After spending a semester at the University of Minnesota through the MAST exchange program she returned home to finish her degree. Natali hopes to continue her education in Europe, with a particular interest in studying grapes and cheese.

Edson was born in Goiânia, Brazil, where he pursued a degree in veterinary medicine at the Universidade Federal de Goiás. Throughout his veterinary training in Brazil, he worked with reproduction, production, and research involving dairy and beef cattle. Additionally, he actively contributed to research projects focused on the application of additives to enhance digestion physiology, working in both field and laboratory settings. Edson joined the Caixeta Lab in October 2023. He later returned to Brazil to complete his DVM training and is now managing a large beef cattle operation.

João Pedro was born in Brazil and earned his DVM degree in 2015 from Santa Catarina State University. As a student, he gained experience in animal reproduction, parasitology, and dairy cattle farming. In 2016, he began his master's degree at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, where he focused on dairy cow nutrition during the transition period. After completing his master's, he moved to Minas Gerais for a residency in ruminant medical clinics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais. Following the residency, he started his Ph.D. at the same institution, researching the development of a vaccine against bovine neonatal diarrhea caused by Cryptosporidium parvum. João Pedro was previously part of the Caixeta Lab but later returned to Brazil to complete his Ph.D.

Anay Ravelo was a PhD student in the Department of Veterinary Population Medicine at the University of Minnesota from 2021 to 2024, completing her PhD training funded by the USDA through the National Need Fellowship program. During her training, she worked with the microbiome, metabolome, and epidemiology of hyperketonemia in dairy cows. After completing her PhD, Anay moved to Cornell University for postdoctoral training. She earned her undergraduate degree in Animal Science at the University of Florida in 2019 and completed her master's in Ruminant Nutrition there in the summer of 2021.

Aline was a MAST trainee on a farm in Minnesota and joined the Caixeta Lab in the fall during her study period. During her time in the lab, she contributed to all ongoing projects, providing valuable support to the team. After completing her training, she returned to Brazil for a brief stop before moving to Canada to join Dr. Eduardo Ribeiro's research group at the University of Guelph.

Bruno Horschut de Lima, originally from São José dos Campos, SP, Brazil, graduated in Agronomy from Unesp in Ilha Solteira. During his master's in Plant Nutrition at Unesp, he provided consultancy services to local producers, where he first encountered dairy farming and recognized its significance in agriculture. In January 2024, he joined the Caixeta Lab as a MAST trainee, focusing on the nutritional management of dairy cattle to optimize sustainable production. After his six-month internship, Bruno aims to continue to support the agricultural industry in Brazil sustainably and efficiently.

Mellissa Ferreira, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was a student of Agribusiness Engineering at Universidade Federal Fluminense. With experience in vegetable processing, supply chain management, organic products, and handling both plants and animals, she also worked with data analysis. To broaden her knowledge of the agribusiness chain, she interned at Caixeta's Lab for six months, starting in February 2024, focusing on dairy farms.

Felipe Peña Mosca, a Uruguayan veterinarian, holds a DVM and MSc from the University of the Republic. In 2019, he secured a Fulbright Scholarship and joined the University of Minnesota's Caixeta Lab, specializing in mastitis epidemiology and udder health in dairy cows. His research was completed in collaboration with Dr. Noelle Noyes Lab. As a member of the Caixeta Lab, Felipe  focused his studies in bedding management's effects on udder health and innovative mastitis prevention methods for conventional and organic dairy farms. In October 2023, he completed his PhD and transitioned to a postdoctoral role at Cornell University. 

Frederico graduated in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Uberaba in 2017. Prior to that, Frederico completed a Animal Science and Agriculture Technology course at the Triangulo Mineiro Federal Institute in 2014. After finishing his veterinary training, Frederico completed an internship at Marcus Dairy Farm in Raymond, MN. In October 2023, Frederico joined the Caixeta Lab as a MAST intern and was a member of the research team until December 2023. After completing his training, Frederico was accepted into the graduate program at Washington State University.

Anaëlle, born and raised on her family's dairy farm in France, earned an HND in Animal Production from the "Ecole Supérieure d’Agriculture" and an AGRICADRE (Management and Trade in Agriculture) degree. She gained experience at the feed company "Seenovia," focusing on dairy cow nutrition before coming to the USA. After a four-month internship at a Minnesota dairy farm in April 2023, Anaëlle joined the Caixeta lab in September 2023 to expand her knowledge in dairy cattle research.  Anaëlle completed her MAST training in January 2024.

Jose Netto, was born and raised in Goiania, Goias, Midwest of Brazil, had worked with cattle reproduction in beef and dairy herds during his veterinary training prior to joining the Caixeta Lab. He was in his senior year of veterinary training at the Universidade Federal de Goias, Brazil when he joined the Caixeta Lab in November 2022 for a year long training program in the MAST program. In December 2023, Jose Netto completed his training and returned home to complete his DVM training.

Vitor, was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and was a senior student  in veterinary medicine at the Universidade Federal de Goiás, Brazil during his trainee period in the Caixeta Lab. Before joining the Caixeta Lab, Vitor worked on the production and research of dairy and beef cows, including a eight-month internship at a dairy farm in California. He had joined the Caixeta Lab in August 2023 with the goal of continuing to deepen his knowledge. Vitor completed his MAST training at the Caixeta Lab in December 2023 when he left the lab and returned home to complete his DVM training.

Ana completed a 4-months internship in our group on her last year of vet school at the Universidade Estadual do Centro-Oeste, Brazil. After completing her internship Ana returned to Brazil to complete her DVM training and plans to be dairy practitioners - and potentially also a dairy researcher. 

Mahmoud is an assistant lecturer of animal medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt who complete a year long visiting scholarship in our lab. During this time, Mahmoud participated in multiple trials and worked on different laboratory and data analysis project for his PhD thesis ("Diagnostic approaches to metabolic disorders in dairy cattle"). Mahmoud's time at UMN was a collaborative effort between the University of Minnesota and Zagazig University.  

Zelmar Rodriguez was a PhD student in our team. He received his DVM degree from the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Uruguay in 2013. He moved to MN in 2017 to join the dairy group as a research assistant working on hoof-health related projects and in 2018 he decided to pursue his PhD degree. His current research was focused on the evaluation and development of effective management strategies to prevent diseases during the transition period on dairy cattle, with a special focus on hyperketonemia. Zelmar completed his PhD in June 2021 and moved to Michigan State University to assume a Assistant Professor position after spending some time as a postdoc.

Mojtaba Daneshi is a Large Animal Internal Medicine specialist from the University of Tehran, Iran.

Mojtaba obtained his DVM degree in 2015. He continued his training by pursuing a residency in 2017. During his residency, Mojtaba focused on presence and activities of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in cattle. 

Mojtaba joined the Caixeta Lab in September 2021 to collaborate in studied on antimicrobial peptides, seeking ways to enhance their efficiency and to minimize factors inhibiting AMPs' activity. In September 2022, moved west to start his PhD training at North Dakota State University.

Mourad is a lecturer of Veterinary Internal Medicine in the Department of Animal Medicine at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University in Egypt.  Mourad was born and raised in Beni-Suef, Egypt. Mourad obtained his bachelor's degree in Veterinary Medical Sciences in 2009 from Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Egypt, his master's degree in 2014 at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Poland. Mourad obtained his PhD degree in 2018 

Mourad spent 6 months in the Caixeta Lab (June to November of 2021) as a visiting scholar.

Diego was a senior year student of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cruz Alta (UNICRUZ) in Brazil. Diego was born in Brazil, where he had vast experience with beef cattle. His interest in dairy cattle started after the completion of internships and participating in farm routine, as well as working with clinical and production of dairy cattle. Diego wants to work with animal health and milk quality after graduating. 

Diego spent 6 months in the Caixeta Lab (August 2021 to January 2022) as a visiting scholar.

Dr. Bobwealth Omontese was a postdoc in our team between 2017-2019. After his time with our team, Dr. Omontese spent one year under the supervision of Dr. Andres Gomez (UMN) learning more about microbiome and bioinformatics. Dr. Omontese is an Assistant Professor at the Alabama A&M University.

Melisa was a last semester student of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences in Colombia at the Universidad Tecnologica de Pereira (UTP). Melisa completed her internship at the Caixeta Lab as a member of the MAST program at the University of Minnesota. Melisa was mainly interested in aquaculture but learned to like dairy cows during her internship. Melisa's plans were to apply all the knowledge gained during her time in the Caixeta Lab in her home country.

Melisa spent one year in the Caixeta Lab (July 2021 to July 2022) as a student intern.

Fredrick is a UMN DVM'22 student who joined the lab during his Veterinary Summer Scholar program in 2020. Fredrick grew up on a small Beef Cow/Calf operation near Kerkhoven, MN. He earned a bachelors of science degree in Animal Science from the University of Minnesota. During vet school he has focused on bovine medicine, and I plans on specializing in Bovine Reproductive practices following graduation.

Sabina Ponicki is UMN DVM `23 student originally from Illinois and interested in bovine and small animal medicine. Sabina completed her bachelors in Animal Science with minors in Management and Chemistry at the University of Minnesota prior to starting veterinary school. 

Nilon was as a MAST trainee in our lab. Nilon is interested in health and nutrition in dairy cows. After his year with our team, Nilon returned to Brazil to complete his veterinary medicine training.

João Vitor was a MAST trainee in our lab as a third-year Veterinary Medicine student in Brazil (University of Valença - UNIFAA). João was a member of the lab tam from 6 months. Since an early age, João Vitor had a passion for cows and he joined our group to stay updated on the latest knowledge in dairy industry. João Vitor went back to Brazil to complete his Veterinary Medicine training.

Carolina completed a one-year internship in our lab between 2019-2020 before finishing her veterinary medicine degree in Brazil. Carolina assisted with several research projects during her time in our team.

Acir spent 6 months in our laboratory during 2019. After leaving our team, Acir went back to Brazil to finish his Veterinary Medicine training.

Matheus completed his 6-month of wort study as part of his MAST training program in 2018. Upon completion of his MAST program, Matheus returned to Brazil to finish his vet school training. Matheus started a MSc at University of Guelph in 2021.

Jardel Miranda was a MAST intern in our lab for 9-month. Jardel split his time between our lab and the University of Minnesota Dairy Cattle Research and Teaching Unit on the Saint Paul campus.

Daniela joined our lab for a 3-month internship in our lab in 2018. Daniela is interested in management, health, and nutrition of dairy cattle. Daniela started a Master of Science at Texas Tech University in 2021.

Pedro Paulo  was a MAST trainee in our lab during 2018-2019. After completing his program in Minnesota, Pedro Paulo returned to Brazil to finish his veterinary medicine training. 

Mariana joined our lab as a MAST trainee - student worker in 2019. During her time with our team, Mariana was assigned to assist with wetlab activities including lots of DNA extraction for microbiome analysis. Mariana completed her DVM training in Brazil.

Daniela completed a 3-month internship in our lab as a requirement to complete her DVM training in Brazil.

Letícia spent 2 months in our lab as a student worker. Unfortunately, her training with us was cut short because of the Covid-19 pandemic.