Esteban Soto Martinez

Professor and Agronomist

Medicine & Epidemiology

Office
Tupper Hall, Davis, CA 95616

Licenses
Certified Fish Pathologist, American Fisheries Society – Fish Health Section
Licensed Veterinarian in Costa Rica (Colegio de Medicos Veterinarios de Costa Rica)
Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologist, Subspecialty in Bacteriology/Mycology
Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Microbiologist, Subspecialty in Immunology
Certified Aquatic Veterinarian, World Aquatic Veterinary Medical Association
Category II veterinary accreditation in the State of California, USDA-APHIS National Veterinary Accreditation
License California Veterinary Medical Board
Education
2010, PhD, Louisiana State University, School of Veterinary Medicine, Louisiana, USA
2007, MS, Mississippi State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Mississippi, USA
2005, DVM, Escuela de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional, Heredia, Costa Rica
Active Research Grants
Co-Principal Investigator, Emerging and Re-emerging Flavobacterial Pathogens in Aquaculture, Ken Cain (Principal Investigator), WRAC
Principal Investigator, Evaluation of inactive vaccines against Lactococcus garviae infection in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, (Principal Investigator), USDA NIFA CFAH Animal Health project
Principal Investigator, Role of Acipenserid Herpesvirus 2 during coinfections with Veronaea botryosa and Streptococcus iniae in White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanum), (Principal Investigator), USDA NIFA CFAH Animal Health project
Co-Principal Investigator, A systematic and integrated approach to mitigation of antimicrobial resistance in aquaculture , Luxin Wang (Principal Investigator), USDA Food Science & Technology
Principal Investigator, Development of Prophylactic Methods Against Piscine Mycobacteriosis in Pet Fish, (Principal Investigator), Center for Companion Animal Health
Co-Principal Investigator, Mitigating antimicrobial use in aquaculture through vaccination: Development of inactivated and live attenuated vaccines against Edwardsiella piscicida for use in farmed fish, Matt Griffin (Principal Investigator), Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research
Co-Principal Investigator, Identification of novel Flavobacterium columnare vaccine candidates for catfish and other aquaculture fish species in the Southern region, Tim Bruce (Principal Investigator), SRAC
Co-Principal Investigator, Development and Initial Testing of Diatom-Based Self-adjuvanting Antigen-Adjuvant Fusion Subunit Protein Oral Vaccines against Piscine Francisellosis in Nile Tilapia, Roshan Shresta (Principal Investigator), USDA-SBIR
Most Recent Five Book Chapters
2020 Griffin MJ, Soto E, Wise DJ: Edwardsiella, Chapter 12, Woo PTK, Leong JA, Buchmann K, (ed), Climate Change and Infectious Fish Diseases, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK. 235.
2018 Soto E^, Boylan SM, Stevens B, Smith SA, Yanong R, Subramaniam K, Waltzek T: Diagnosis of Fish Diseases, Chapter 3, Smith S, (ed), Fish Medicine and Surgery , Boca Raton, FL. 46-85.
2016 Shoemaker CA, Xu DH, Soto E: Chapter 22: Streptococcus spp. (S. iniae and S. agalactiae), Woo PTK, Cipriano RC, (ed), Fish Viruses and Bacteria: Pathobiology and Protection, Nosworthy Way, Wallingford, Oxfordshire. 298-313.
2016 Arkush K, Bartholomew J, Soto E: Chapter 20: Piscirickettsia salmonis, Woo PTK, Cipriano RC, (ed), Fish Viruses and Bacteria: Pathobiology and Protection, Nosworthy Way, Wallingford, Oxfordshire. 272-285.
2016 Soto E^, Hawke JP: Chapter 17: Francisella noatunensis, Woo PTK, Cipriano RC, (ed), Fish Viruses and Bacteria: Pathobiology and Protection, Nosworthy Way, Wallingford, Oxfordshire. 233-244.
Research Focus
Aquatic and Wild Animal Health
Specialty Focus
My main research interests are to understand the pathogenesis of important infectious diseases of wild and aquatic animals, and to develop strategies to protect animals from these diseases.
Ten Recent Publications

2022
Shoemaker C, Heckman T., LaFrentz B, Beck B, Soto E, Paulson M, Garcia J.
Coinfection by Group C Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis and Flavobacterium davisii in Nile Tilapia, from the United States. Bulletin of the European Association of Fish Pathologists. October issue.

2022
Nguyen TD, Marancik D, Soto E.
B-glucan immunostilulation against columnaris in a white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) model. Fish and Shellfish Immunology Reports

2022
Soto E, Fast M, Purcell S, Coleman D, Yazdi Y, Kenelty K, Yun S, Camus A.
Expression of immune markers of white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) during Veronaea botryosa infection at different temperatures

2022
Chang E, Miller M, Shahin K, Bata F, Field CL, Duignan P, Struve C, Byrne BA, Murray MJ, Greenwald K, Smith WA, Ziccardi M, SotoE
Genetics and pathology associated with Klebsiella pneumoniae and Klebsiella spp. isolates from North American Pacific coastal marine mammals. Vet Microbiol.?

2022
Sebastiao F., Hansen J., Soto E.
Evaluation of Francisella orientalis ?pdpA as a live attenuated vaccine against piscine francisellosis in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Journal of Aquatic Animal Health.

2022
Shahin K, Veek T, Heckman TI, Littman E, Mukkatira K, Adkinson M, Welch TJ, Imai DM, Pastenkos G, Camus A, Soto E^
Isolation and characterization of Lactococcus garvieae fromrainbow trout, Onchorhyncus mykiss, from California, USA

2022
Shahin K, Mukkatira K, Yazdi Z, Richey C, Kwak K, Heckman TI, Mohammed HH, Ortega C, Avendaño-Herrera R, Keleher B, Hyatt MW, Drennan JD, Adkison M, Griffin MJ, Soto E
Development of a quantitative PCR assay for detection of the etiological agents of piscine lactococcosis

2022
Phillips Savage ACN, Blake L, Suepaul R, McHugh O, Rodgers R, Thomas C, Oura C, Soto E.
Piscine Mycobacteriosis in the Ornamental Fish Trade in Trinidad and Tobago. Journal of Fish Diseases

2022
Heckman TI, Shahin K, Henderson EE, Griffin MJ, Soto E.
Development and efficacy of Streptococcus iniae live-attenuated vaccines in Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus. Fish and Shellfish Immunology

2022
LaFrentz BR, Králová S, García JC, Loch TP, Soto E, Sebastiao F, Griffin MJ, Waldbieser GC, Snekvik KR, Burbick CR, Liles MR
The fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare represents four distinct species: Flavobacterium columnare, Flavobacterium covae sp. nov., Flavobacterium davisii sp. nov. and Flavobacterium oreochromis sp. nov., and emended description of Flavobacterium columnare. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.