Andres Espindola Camacho

Andres Espindola Camacho is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Entomology & Plant Pathology and the Institute for Biosecurity and Microbial Forensics at Oklahoma State University (OSU). He holds a Ph.D. in Plant Pathology and a Bioinformatics certificate from OSU, following a B.S. in Biotechnology Engineering from Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas in Ecuador.

Education:

• B.S., Biotechnology Engineering, Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas, Ecuador (2009)
• M.Sc., Entomology and Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University (2013)
• Ph.D., Plant Pathology, Oklahoma State University (2016)
• Graduate Certificate, Bioinformatics, Oklahoma State University (2016)

Research Interests: His work focuses on high-throughput sequencing (HTS) for pathogen diagnostics, development of the Microbe Finder (MiFi®) platform, and microbiome analysis. Projects include refining bioinformatic tools like EDNA/MiFi® for rapid detection of plant and animal pathogens, improving diagnostic accuracy in citrus, grapes, and swine, and integrating machine learning for disease prediction.

Key Projects:

• Development of MiFi®, a GUI-based platform for pathogen detection using e-probes.
• Soil microbiome analysis to predict wheat productivity.
• Collaborations with USDA APHIS and UC Riverside for citrus and grapevine pathogen detection.
• Animal health studies, including swine gut microbiome impacts and bovine respiratory disease diagnostics.
• Machine learning models for disease prediction from HTS data.

Funding & Grants:

• FFAR grant ($220,000) for wheat rhizosphere microbiome research.
• USDA grant ($114,449) for citrus pathogen e-probe validation.
• ODAFF grants totaling $197,417 for grapevine and rose pathogen detection.

Labs & Collaborations: He leads projects at OSU’s Institute for Biosecurity and collaborates with institutions like UC Davis, USDA APHIS, and the Citrus Clonal Protection Program. His work impacts multibillion-dollar industries in agriculture and animal health.