Bovine mastitis is the most costly disease affecting America's dairy industry.
Losses from mastitis each year are estimated at two billion dollars. The critical steps leading to mastitis seem to be how the bacteria attaches to bovine mammary cells and their subsequent spread through mammary gland tissues. Dr. Joseph M. Patti , a molecular biologist who is a research assistant professor at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, is working on designing inhibitors that will keep the bacteria from adhering to mammary cell surfaces and also on developing new vaccines that will prevent and treat bovine mastitis.