Could probiotics prevent bovine respiratory disease in beef cattle? Howe’s research project aims to develop probiotics derived from healthy cattle to prevent bovine respiratory disease. Collecting respiratory samples is essential to her work to investigate the bovine respiratory microcbiome. The respiratory systems of healthy calves contain different bacteria than those suffering from bovine respiratory disease. He has worked to prevent and mitigate bovine respiratory disease since 2015 and developed nasal microbiome biomarkers to help predict the onset of bovine respiratory disease in cattle.