The Poultry Research Foundation Welcomes Poultry Veterinarian, Dr Jose Quinteros

by Mingan Choct

Jose Quinteros is a poultry veterinarian, researcher, and lecturer. He completed his undergraduate degree in Veterinary Science from the University of Chile in 2004. Immediately after completion (January 2005), Jose obtained a position as a field veterinarian in a Chilean turkey-producing company called “Sopraval” (www.sopraval.cl). This company is part of the “Agrosuper” consortium (www.agrosuper.cl), the biggest food-producing company in the country.

In January 2012, Jose joined the University of Melbourne HDR program. He completed a Master’s degree studying the molecular biology of Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV), successfully deciphering the complete genome sequence of an Australian strain of the virus for the first time. After its completion in January 2014, Jose briefly joined Baiada Turkeys as Service Manager. Then, in January 2015, Jose returned to the University of Melbourne as an HDR student to complete a PhD program. This time, he studied the pathobiology of IBV and the differences in virulence between the classical GI-genotype strains and the most novel GIII- and GV-genotype strains.

Following this, Jose joined the company Scolexia (led by Dr Peter Scott) between July 2019 and December 2021 to assist with the Research and Development projects led by Dr Timothy Wilson. Jose worked on projects related to Campylobacter hepaticus (the causative agent of Spotty Liver Disease in laying hens and broiler breeders); Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis; and feed additives, including nutraceuticals and pigments.

In December 2021, Jose joined Universidad Vina del Mar in Chile as Head of The School of Veterinary Science, then in 2023, Jose got the position as a Lecturer in Poultry Health at the Sydney School of Veterinary Science (SSVS) at the University of Sydney. In his role, Jose will be delivering poultry health and husbandry lectures. He will lead research on poultry viral diseases (particularly IBV) and emerging diseases in Australia, such as SLD and enterococcosis.

During his current role, Jose has been in contact with the poultry industry, attending Australasian poultry meetings such as Ideas Exchange, organised by Poultry Hub Australia (Adelaide, SA) and AVPA 2023 as a speaker (Queenstown, New Zealand). He is also part of a poultry joint group formed by academics and researchers from the Poultry Research Foundation (PRF), the School of Land and Environmental Sciences (SOLES) and the Sydney School of Veterinary Science (SSVS). This group recently visited the free-range egg-producing facilities of McLean’s Farms and the duck-meat-producing company Pepe’s Ducks. The purpose of these visits is to strengthen the connection between the Australian Poultry Sector and the University of Sydney poultry research group.

Regarding his teaching role, Jose is working on adapting the poultry curriculum at the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) and Animal Veterinary and Bioscience (AVB) programs to update the delivery method and content of the subjects to meet the expectations of present and future students.

In terms of research, Jose is focused on modernising the tools used to prevent infectious viral diseases, such as IBV, as the current prophylactic tools have not been updated in more than 30 years. He also aims to establish a poultry infectious diseases surveillance program to keep track of the constant challenges that arise with the emergence of new pathogens or pathogen variants. Jose plans to collaborate with the PRF to establish disease challenge studies at the Poultry Research Unit at the University of Sydney, to assist the Australian Poultry Industry.