Hugo Monteiro

Research Focus

My research program focuses on host–microbiome interactions in ruminants, with an emphasis on how microbial and viral communities influence nutrient utilization, feed efficiency and methane emissions in dairy cattle. Our group uses deep sequencing-based multi-omics and bioinformatics approaches, including dual RNA-sequencing, metagenomics, amplicon sequencing and metabolomics, to uncover rumen ecological shifts and their impact on animal production and sustainability.

By integrating expertise in ruminant nutrition, microbiology and bioinformatics, our team focuses on addressing critical knowledge gaps in microbial ecology that have direct applicability to ruminant systems, especially dairy cows. As a result, our current research is centered on:

• Development of microbial solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and nitrogen waste from animal production systems and the environment
• Development of dairy cattle nutrition methods based on multi-omics approaches
• Refinement of tools and workflows used to study rumen microbial ecology