Today’s episode was recorded live at the American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO. Joining us are the ADSA research winners to discuss their projects.
Today’s episode was recorded live at the American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO. Joining us are the ADSA research winners to discuss their projects.
Lautaro Rostoll Cangiano joins us first. Lautaro is the president of ADSA’s Grad Student Division (GSD) program, which provides networking opportunities at the ADSA meetings in addition to professional development opportunities. Lautaro is wrapping up his time as president.
Our next guests are Dr. Corwin Nelson from the University of Florida and Kari Estes with Balchem giving us the judge's perspective on the contest. Each student is judged on four major categories including presentation, design, how they interpret results and the data itself. Kari said the enthusiasm of the students was the highlight for her.
Third, we have Alisson Da Mota Santos from Michigan State University who presented on the effectiveness of GnRH as a resynchronization tool in lactating dairy cows. The main findings of the study were that treatments were effective in synchronizing cows.
Next up is Jackson Seminara from Cornell University, winner of the PhD poster contest, discussing calcium dynamics and associated patterns of milk constituents in early lactation multiparous Holsteins. Cows with different calcium dynamics have different milk profiles, and the healthy cows had higher levels of proteins.
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh and Dr. Andres Contreras from Michigan State joined us as the winner of the masters oral presentation. The study topic was oleic acid limits lipolysis and improves mitochondrial function in adipose tissue from periparturient dairy cows. The focus on oleic acid was to determine how it minimizes body condition score loss. The results showed oleic acid increased insulin sensitivity, minimized lipid mobilization and improved mitochondrial function.
Thaina Minela, also from Michigan State, spoke about her project. Her results showed that lactating cows inseminated following estrus have greater early pregnancy losses compared to the fertility program Double-Ovsynch. Thaina won the PhD oral competition.
Our final guest is Conor McCabe from the University of California Davis. Conor just finished a term as Dairy Production Manager and is continuing on as the ADSA GSD Vice President in 2022. Looking forward, ADSA will be in Ottawa in 2023 and wants to look at ADSA as more than just a place for students to present their research. Conor mentioned a possible mentorship program available for GSD coming up.
Scott Sorrell (00:07):
Good evening everyone and welcome to the real science exchange. The podcast we're leading scientists and industry professionals feed over a few drinks, discuss the latest ideas and trends, and animal nutrition with me tonight are my trustee rusty. Uh, co-host Dr. Clay, Zimerman clay. Typically we're drinking, uh, beverages, uh, during the real science exchange, but tonight we're having ice cream. Yes. Yeah. The ice. And that's because we are at the ice cream social after the American dairy science association award ceremony. So, and so why we're doing this tonight is we're gonna be honoring the winners of the poster contest and the oral presentation contest. And to start our first guest is Lautaro Rostoll. I say that, right? You did pretty
Lautaro Rostoll (00:52):
Good. Yeah. That was a good hot rolling.
Scott Sorrell (00:54):
I almost rolled the R just a little
Lautaro Rostoll (00:56):
Bit. Yeah. Okay.
Scott Sorrell (00:59):
Um, LA Toro is, uh, he's the president of, uh, the GSD. So LA Toro, give us some background in terms of who are you, and what are you about? Um, and, uh, yeah,
Lautaro Rostoll (01:10):
Go ahead. Yeah. Yes, Scott. So I'm a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Guelph. My advisor is Dr. Michael seal. I work in cat health on the calf, uh, trying to improve the health of those animals during the pre-period that we know is a very stressful period for the animals. So we're trying to understand how we can improve immune development, those animals and hack kind like have creative ways that we can, uh, reduce this disease overall. Um, so yeah, I've been president of the grad student division for a year. I'm almost done right now. Um, and I wanna say thank you part for sponsoring the very well some of these events and then yeah. Showcasing some all events. So thanks.
Scott Sorrell (01:52):
Very good. So what is GSD? What's the purpose? The history, uh, and, and what are the benefits of GSD to,
Lautaro Rostoll (02:00):
Uh,
Scott Sorrell (02:00):
Students?
Lautaro Rostoll (02:02):
So the grad student division FORDSA, um, it's, it's run by the student members, and the idea behind it is to, to try to provide a platform for, uh, professional development activities and network opportunities at the conference. And we also organize our events during the meeting without saying Portel to general stuff that is outside, um, scientific, uh, conversation, more related specifically to professional development. So we have a workshop on one of the days. Uh, the one that we had yesterday was on scientific communication, how to improve scientific communication and how you deliver your message to your audience. Um, then there's another event that we have that is that career luncheon, that we have a panel of people that they just finished their degrees, and they just landed their first, uh, job either in industry or in academia so that the students have an opportunity to see how that transition is. And they have an opportunity to ask questions and how they should prepare their resume, how they should contact people, and how, um, yeah, how, how they can improve their job hunting, uh, to sort of find their first job.
Scott Sorrell (03:13):
Yeah. Nice.
Lautaro Rostoll (03:15):
Excellent. So we also have my dear career tool that it's a platform that we have in DSA, that they post jobs, uh, in industry and academia and the members of the organizations, they can use that resource as well. Well,
Scott Sorrell (03:31):
So
Clay Zimmerman (03:31):
LA Torah, what was the most rewarding part of being GSD president?
Lautaro Rostoll (03:35):
Yeah, I think it's like being on the general board and seeing behind the scenes, how a meaning like this is put together and seeing the amount of work that it takes to put a meaning like this. So they start organizing the session symposia, like what everything's gonna take place a year before. And even the venue you have the venue contracts probably three, four years in advance. So seeing how that is put and the amount of work that it takes and all the logistics is great to see. And it's also really good for my professional development. And I certainly wanna keep, um, providing my service to this great organization. Yeah, mm-hmm
Clay Zimmerman (04:11):
So how often does the board make
Lautaro Rostoll (04:14):
Once a month in the beginning and then when you're getting closer? Uh, probably twice, twice a month. And then you have two meetings in person on the, like right on the venue. Yeah. Yeah. When you come and see the convention center, all the rooms, you kind of figure out where everything's going to happen.
Clay Zimmerman (04:33):
Ah, very nice. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (04:35):
I gotta tell you, we interviewed about 20, uh, or so, um, students, uh, this, this week and it was amazing, uh, the quality of the kids coming out, the university east days, you guys should be proud, but we were very impressed. Yeah. Thank you. The future is in front of them. That's what's you, you in front of, so tell us a little bit about your role at LA Toro as president and, uh, how much longer will you beat president and then who's gonna be following in your
Lautaro Rostoll (04:58):
Footsteps. Yes. Yeah. So my role as a president, I'm an ex-official member of the general board of a DSA. So I participate in my role in the organization of the meeting. So I have to oversee our grad student board which is composed of five other members. And each of them is in charge of organizing one specific event and we have webinars throughout the year, also on professional development. So my role is kind of overseeing that board and also having a seat on the general board, organizing the meeting, and linking them together. Yeah. And I'll be finishing my mandate, uh, at the end of the meeting. And then Luke Keyan from the university of Cornell, uh, is gonna take the president's role. Okay. Um, and is one year's dairy foods division is the president and then one year is, uh, dairy reproduction.
Scott Sorrell (05:49):
Okay. Very well. Mm-hmm
Lautaro Rostoll (05:59):
Yeah. Yeah. So I just signed a contract with the University of Wisconsin medicine. Congratulations. Um, to start
Scott Sorrell (06:06):
Great school,
Lautaro Rostoll (06:06):
By the way. Yes. I'm excited about that. Um, to start a faculty position next, next year, they're on immunology. Oh. So gonna continue some of the work that I've done during my Ph.D. on Cal health and immune functioning caps. Ah,
Scott Sorrell (06:21):
Congratulations. Good luck to you, which
Lautaro Rostoll (06:23):
Is the best. Thank you, guys. All right.
Scott Sorrell (06:25):
Hey, thanks for spending some time with us tonight. Yeah. Yeah. Our next guest here at the ice cream social is Dr. Corwin Nelson from the University of Florida, uh, Corwin, when we're usually at the real science exchange, we're having some beverages, and, uh, tonight we're having an ice cream. So I'm gonna ask what's in your dish tonight.
Dr. Corwin Nelson (06:48):
So I got vanilla ice cream with, uh, hot fudge and pecans and some whipped cream on
Scott Sorrell (06:53):
Top. Nice, nice. Wow. And clay, I didn't ask you, um, your dish is empty.
Kari Estes (07:10):
Had vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, chocolate Jimmys, whipped cream, and a cherry on top.
Scott Sorrell (07:16):
Wow. Nice. Mm-hmm
Dr. Corwin Nelson (07:32):
So I'm an associate professor at the University of Florida. Uh, I've been there for, uh, nine years now, hard to believe, but, uh, I work on a general area of, uh, nutrition and immunology dairy cow. Okay.
Scott Sorrell (07:44):
Very well. And can you give us an overview of the contest? You know, how did it come about how long have they been doing it? Uh, some of that kind of things.
Dr. Corwin Nelson (07:54):
Wow. How long have they been doing this has been, a pretty longstanding tradition for dairy science to do these contests. Um, so just a little bit of an overview so that when the students submit their abstracts back in February, they're able to, uh, indicate whether or not they wanna participate and, uh, depending on their level Ph.D. or, uh, master, uh, if they wanna do it, uh, poster or oral competition. And this year we did something new where they could, uh, present in virtually cuz we did all the competitions virtually they could, uh, select whether they wanted to present in that plus in the general session. So that was something new, um, that we did learn something from this year. And just how to communicate that well as a new, new thing that we had, we've judged these virtually for the last previous two years because we were virtual. Yeah. Um, so it, it,
Scott Sorrell (08:45):
That's not working out.
Dr. Corwin Nelson (08:46):
Yes, yes. So it was, uh, judging virtually. It's been, a great way to do it. You have, you can sit down, go through them, and talk in between is a great way to do them. When we first did this, uh, two years ago, judging, virtually like, Hey, this is a great way to do it. We should do this all the time. So now we'll sit back and, and once this is over and revalue, how did this go? Um, what do we need to do differently? So that'll be something we look at going forward to next year.
Scott Sorrell (09:14):
Yeah. Good. Can you talk a little bit about the benefits for the students?
Dr. Corwin Nelson (09:18):
Yeah. So what the students did in, in, uh, presentation this year in the contest, they had five minutes to present their, their, uh, presentation. Um, they uploaded a full-length presentation that everybody can go and view. So I encourage you to view the full-length presentations. Um, you can do that through the ADSA website. And, but then they had five minutes to present, plus three minutes of questions. So it, it, they have to boil all their research, all their hard work into that short message there to convey there, all their research and that. So it's a great, great tool for them to, to be able to get through and, and learn how to communicate effectively that way.
Scott Sorrell (09:57):
Yeah. It's very well known. In addition to, uh, being the organizer, you were also one of the judges as was, uh, Kerry Estes. So that's why we've got the two of you together. Uh, one of the questions I'd like to ask is, um, how do you go about, and so Carrie, remind me, you did posts mm-hmm
Dr. Corwin Nelson (10:14):
Oral? I did orals.
Scott Sorrell (10:15):
Yeah. Okay. So, Kari, we'll start with you. How do you go about judging a poster competition?
Kari Estes (10:21):
It's a little challenging. Yeah. This was my first time doing it. I enjoyed doing it. Um, but we all have a judge's card that we go off of all the judges do. And I think we're judging based on four different major categories. So anywhere from how the student is, uh, dressed in their enthusiasm during the presentation to the actual poster and the data, how they're interpreting the results, making sure there's no overinterpretation and, um, of course, like I said, the design of the poster to is pretty important.
Scott Sorrell (10:53):
Yeah. Were any things that, uh, really stood out to you that really kind of caught your fancy
Kari Estes (10:59):
For me, it was the enthusiasm of the students. Okay. By far right. That's what's so contagious. It makes us excited about the research too. Right. So definitely was their level of understanding of their research and their enthusiasm.
Scott Sorrell (11:13):
Yeah. That's excellent.
Clay Zimmerman (11:14):
So Carrie, for the posters, are they showing a poster on the screen or how do they do
Kari Estes (11:20):
That? Yeah, this is a little bit different from the whole virtual thing. So, uh, or the hybrid, I guess I should say. Uh, so they have a choice. They can either present their poster or they can use some slides. Um, so there were students that did both, uh, or, you know, there were students that did slides and students that did posters and they were both successfully done very well. So you can do it both ways.
Scott Sorrell (11:46):
So Corwin as, uh, judged with the oral presentations, anything that stood out to you? Well, first let me ask, what were you looking for?
Dr. Corwin Nelson (11:54):
So very many, much of the same things that Carrie mentioned there just, uh, in this case, it'd be the quality, the slides, just how well they put everything together. Every, every detail that they had, you know, filled into there. And then the, just the presentation itself of being able to clearly express themselves the enthusiasm that they had have, um, just the clarity in that. Um, so those were a lot of things, um, scientific merit, you know, we, we look for, you know, what's the quality of the research that they're doing. So that's another aspect that we look for in that. And then, uh, the, the ability to answer questions at the end, um, that shows how well they know their research. Mm-hmm
Scott Sorrell (12:39):
Yeah. So I guess that I hope that there's gonna be a lot of students that are listening to this going wanna participate next year. What kind of advice would you give them that they wanna participate next year and how should they prepare for their oral presentation?
Dr. Corwin Nelson (12:54):
Plan ahead. Okay. Uh, be sure to plan if this is something you want to do, start thinking about, uh, what's going to be in there. Um, don't leave that abstract to the last minute, be sure, to get that in asking questions. So there's a, there's an email there for the, uh, the, the committee chair. It won't be me next year. Uh, it'll be somebody else. Uh, so there's an email there for that committee chair, email them to ask questions or a DSA staff. Um, so if there are any questions, be sure to ask questions. Uh, but certainly don't leave your abstract to the last minute. Yeah,
Scott Sorrell (13:27):
Very well. So
Dr. Corwin Nelson (13:28):
I believe you can view
Scott Sorrell (13:30):
Some of the past wonders online, is that right?
Dr. Corwin Nelson (13:34):
Some of the presentations. Yes, certainly all of these years, all of these have, uh, uploaded their full-length presentations. So, uh, go view them. Um, I, I'm not positive about previous years. I think they are. I haven't checked where I felt. Okay. Yeah. They may still be there.
Scott Sorrell (13:53):
And Carrie, what advice do you have for next year's contestants?
Kari Estes (13:57):
Um, I think it might depend if they're presenting virtual or not, or a hybrid, I think, um, for posters, especially there's a little bit of flexibility, you know, with doing slides or doing a poster. So I would maybe encourage students not to, um, stay within the black box of a poster, maybe, you know, add some animations. You know, that's one thing about being in person is you're using your post-Azure prop, right? Yeah. And when we're doing virtual, we kind of lose that. So maybe just use some of the technology to your advantage.
Scott Sorrell (14:29):
Yeah. You know, one piece of advice I would have, I know that, uh, uh, they, the GST has organized some mixers so that the students could meet some industry people. I would leverage that industry. People call 'em up and practice with them, say, Hey, here's my presentation. What do you think? You know, industry people are all the time creating PowerPoints, uh, presenting them to upper management. So not just an idea. I have, you sound like you're volunteering, Scott. I would volunteer. Cause I, I, I gotta tell you, I love the students. I will be more than happy to call me. All right. Carwin Carrie. Thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you.
Clay Zimmerman (15:06):
It's been fun. Thank you. Thanks.
Scott Sorrell (15:15):
Our next guest here at the ice cream. So is Alison do Mota Santos? Um, Allison is the winner of the master's poster contest. Uh, Allison, tell us a little bit about
Alisson Da Mota Santos (15:26):
Yourself. Awesome. Yeah. Thanks for having me. First of all, I do consume a lot of the ball cam, um, content in the form of the podcast. I just got my t-shirt
Scott Sorrell (15:35):
Last week. Yeah, good.
Alisson Da Mota Santos (15:37):
And, um, also the webinar series. So thank you for putting the content out there. Uh, very welcome. Um, so I'm a, I'm from originally from Brazil, middle Midwest region of Brazil. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in veterinary medicine from the University of ma Grosso. So also in the middle Midwest region of Brazil, um, I always had the dream and the interest in becoming a scientist, um, especially with a focus on reproduction. Uh, I did some work back in Brazil with, um, beef cattle reproduction. And in 2014, I had the chance to come to America for an exchange program. And then I met Dr. Pley who invited me to come back for, for, um, a master's degree, which I just recently finished. And I did, we did some research on investigating conceptus attachment
Scott Sorrell (16:31):
So, what kindled your interest in agriculture? Did you grow up on a farm?
Alisson Da Mota Santos (16:34):
I did not. No. I grew up in, uh, small town, uh, that was surrounded by, by B farms mostly. Um, and just, I, I normally tell people that just by smelling them, the cow in the air that got me interested in it. And also my mom was a biologist, so I got to go with her to the field and collect samples all the time. Um, so that kind of got me interested in that and new high school. I did a few internships that made the decision yeah. And become a scientist in that
Scott Sorrell (17:02):
Area. Excellent. Yeah. Glad to have you in the indu in the industry. Thank you. We know need more good people like yourself. Absolutely. Um, the title of your poster was the effects of GnRH as a resynchronization tool and lactating dairy cows. Tell us what the thesis was. How did you come up with, uh, that, that, uh, topic?
Alisson Da Mota Santos (17:22):
Of course. Yeah. So, um, in the dairy industry, there's a lot of, um, not, not just pressure, but a lot of interest in, in giving cows more opportunity to become pregnant as soon as possible. So that's why you have to be, uh, more like dedicated into resynchronize cows as soon as possible after their first service. So that's where our interest came into, uh, light. Uh, so providing G H treatments before the first pregnancy diagnosis sets cows up for success in the, um, development of the follicle. So once they're diagnosed as open, they can be bred the following week. Um, if they are, they are open. So yeah, just shortening the interval between services. It was our main interest in that. Okay. Yeah. Interesting.
Clay Zimmerman (18:12):
So what, so what were your findings from your study?
Alisson Da Mota Santos (18:16):
So in our study, we're comparing three treatments. Um, all of them included of sync at the end, um, in, in the case of the control group that only received off sync. And we also had two treatments that had one general age before the start of off sync and two generate. The other treatment had two generates before the start of offsite. Uh, the main findings, um, have to do with that. All the treatments were effective in inducing, multiple Corpus Ludia. So indicating that all these treatments are effective in synchronizing cows, um, setting them up for success after an absence. And also we have, according to our, um, more recently model that we collected daily samples of the cows, starting on the 16, all the way to create 28 post-AI, we're able to measure a protein in the TH's blood that was very, um, highly correlated with ness. So with that protein, we can use a calculation to estimate the time that the attaches to the uterus.
Clay Zimmerman (19:15):
So what, what is it that determines when, when attachment takes place?
Alisson Da Mota Santos (19:21):
We, we can, uh, use this protein too, uh, if you can put in a calculation, which is an increase of 12 point half percent from the cow's baseline. So we use the cows, her control, and that has to be in addition to two daily increases. So two days following that first increase of that same or greater increase, so 12 and a half percent or greater. And that would indicate that the embryo was attached to the uterus at that first increase. So this very, very, um, it's a hundred percent accurate in predicting that increase in pregnant cows.
Clay Zimmerman (19:54):
So, so when, when does that implantation typically take place?
Alisson Da Mota Santos (19:59):
So that's, that's where the most interesting finding came to light, um, because normally that could take place anytime between day 19 to day 25. However, um, the cows that have later time to attachment more, more specifically the cows on day 22 or later, they're way, they're highly more likely to lose that pregnancy. So that opens up a whole new universe for SI for us to figure it out. What's driving that later attachment and how to bring these cows to an earlier attachment. Yeah.
Clay Zimmerman (20:33):
Okay. So that's, that's early embryonic death at that point. Um, is that how it's counted or
Alisson Da Mota Santos (20:39):
Not? Um, yeah, we call it pregnancy loss. Yeah. Yep. So yeah, these cows that have a later attachment, they're very like way more likely to lose pregnancy. So, we just call it pregnancy loss.
Scott Sorrell (20:54):
Allison, you're a very bright and articulate young man and got a bright future ahead of you. Give me a little idea of what your aspirations are, what are you gonna do after you complete your master's degree?
Alisson Da Mota Santos (21:03):
Um, so yeah, I just, I recently graduated with my master's degree this spring. Okay. And I started my first study. Um, this study's on hold right now cuz I'm at a DSA. Um, but I started my first study with my Ph.D. Okay. So, after my
Scott Sorrell (21:18):
Ph.D. don't Michigan state. Yes.
Alisson Da Mota Santos (21:20):
Yeah. With Dr. Perley. Okay. His brilliant mind, you know? Yeah. It, it, it caught us. Um, yeah. But yeah, so I plan on finishing my Ph.D. with Dr. Perley and then pursuing a career in science. Okay. There science.
Scott Sorrell (21:31):
Okay. In academia, you're gonna go into industry. Do you know yet? Um, don't wanna push you anyway, but if you're interested in one industry,
Alisson Da Mota Santos (21:39):
I mean, I, at this point,
Scott Sorrell (21:41):
Well, hold a spot for you.
Alisson Da Mota Santos (21:41):
Yeah. It's hard, to make that decision right now. Yeah. But, um, I'm leaning towards more the, uh, academia side of it. Okay. Cause I'm, I'm, you know, there's, as I mentioned, there's this whole U new universe that opened up in reproduction that we gotta investigate. So I kind of, I'm interested in that. Yeah. But it's, as a, as I said, it's really hard to decide in your first semester of
Scott Sorrell (22:04):
Your Ph.D.
Alisson Da Mota Santos (22:06):
Yes.
Scott Sorrell (22:06):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, listen, thank you very much for stopping by to spend some time
Alisson Da Mota Santos (22:10):
With us. Thanks so much for having me. You're very welcome. Thank you. Thank you.
Scott Sorrell (22:20):
Our next guest is the winner of the Ph.D. poster contest Jackson seminar from Cornell University. He's in the vet school there. I understand. And you're in your first year, uh, of your Ph.D. program. So welcome. Glad to have you here. Thank you. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Jackson Seminara (22:37):
Uh, well I grew up in New York City. Um,
Scott Sorrell (22:40):
Is that right? Yeah, yeah. Right downtown. And now you're in agriculture.
Jackson Seminara (22:43):
Uh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Uh, a big change for me. Yeah. But uh, I just found out that I was interested in production science, uh, when I was at Cornell for undergrad. Yeah. And, uh, it kind of changed my life. And so I decided to go into that as a career. Ah,
Scott Sorrell (22:58):
Good for you. So what was your undergraduate?
Jackson Seminara (23:00):
Degree? Uh, in animal science at Cornell. And, um, I kind of bounced around through a bunch of different sort of research labs as I was going through my degree, but I ended up in the Cornell sheep program and I know it's kind of a stretch from sheep to cows, but that taught me, uh, that I was interested in production science. And what better production science is there than that with dairy cows. So
Scott Sorrell (23:28):
We would agree. Yeah.
Jackson Seminara (23:43):
Okay. Um, so we were hoping to find some sort of difference in milk constituent profiles, uh, between cows that had different kinds of blood calcium dynamics. And what I mean by that is for cows at the onset of lactation, the Maor land, uh, becomes a sink for calcium and this causes a lot of cows to become hypocalcemic at some point during early lactation, but it doesn't happen for all cows the same way. And some cows recover very nicely, but some cows do not. And we wanted to find a way to identify these cows that do not recover, um, because those cows are at a greater risk of negative health events. Mm-hmm
Clay Zimmerman (24:29):
So what are there were four groups of cows that you, um, yeah, that you identified? Can you explain
Jackson Seminara (24:34):
That? Yeah, sure. So if you look at, uh, serum total calcium concentration at day one and day four in milk, you'll find that there are about well there's, there are four different ways that a cow can sort of responding to the increased demand for calcium. And they are that the cow can remain normal calcium SEIC, uh, for the entirety of that time, they can drop into hypocalcemia at day one but then recover by day four. And that's the transient group. The persistent group is the third group and they become hypocalcemic at the partition and do not recover. And then the delayed group is the group that starts normal calc, but then by day four has descended into hypocalcemia. And the reason those groups are important is like I said, those two, uh, the persistent and delayed cows, they are at a much greater risk of negative health events. And interestingly enough, identifying the transient cows was also an important objective of our study because the transient cows produce a good bit more milk than any of the other groups. So, yeah.
Clay Zimmerman (25:41):
Nice. So what is Ft? I R
Jackson Seminara (25:45):
Oh, okay. So it's for your transform mid-infrared spectroscopic analysis of milk samples,
Clay Zimmerman (25:51):
Not mouthful.
Jackson Seminara (25:51):
Yeah. It's definitely a mouthful, but uh, yeah, so basically the gist of it is that they shine a light, uh, an infrared light through milk samples, and there's a couple of different ways that they can do it, but basically, they shine a light through the milk samples and whatever comes out, the other side is sort of a spectrum that they can then use to predict milk constituents from, from that data.
Clay Zimmerman (26:15):
So what, what constituents were you looking for in particular in your study?
Jackson Seminara (26:19):
Well, we wanted to look at lactose protein in fat because those are sort of our standard milk components, but we were also very interested in fatty acid profiles and other things like energy-related metabolites, such as milk, and beta hydroxy berate. And, uh, we have a model for predicting blood nonsteroid fatty acid from the milk. And so we were very curious to see what that looked like as well.
Clay Zimmerman (26:43):
So, so what were your findings?
Jackson Seminara (26:45):
So what we found is that the cows with different milk constituent profiles, I mean the cows with different calcium dynamics have different milk constituent profiles. And just more specifically, we found that our two healthy groups, the transient and, uh, normal calcium at cows, both have higher levels of protein in their milk. Um, but the, uh, the less healthy groups have lower levels of protein. But then in terms of other things like fatty acid populations, those groups cluster a little bit differently, and that allows us to identify which cows are in which group.
Clay Zimmerman (27:22):
So do you have any thoughts on why, why the milk protein levels would be different then?
Jackson Seminara (27:27):
I'm not sure. I mean, I would think part of this has to be feed intake and we didn't look at that. So that's gotta be something that we look at going forward. Um, but there's a couple of other theories floating around in our lab, like calcium-mediated cytosis, uh, in the Maor we gland epithelial cells. It could be related somehow. It's not entirely clear, but, um, yeah, that is, that's kind of where we're at with that.
Clay Zimmerman (27:57):
Wow. Very interesting.
Scott Sorrell (27:59):
Do you have enough learnings to have any practical implications? Uh,
Jackson Seminara (28:03):
Yeah. Yeah. There are some practical implications here. I mean, at the beginning level, we're hoping to develop an algorithm that uses this milk, uh, Ft. I R data to predict which cows are gonna be healthy, which cows are not gonna be healthy. Um, and so that's something that, you know, a farmer could potentially send out to a lab and get that analysis done and find out which of their cows are gonna be healthy. But in the sort of deep future, we're thinking precision dairying might involve inline milk sensing of these constituents. And in that kind of situation, these algorithms will also be very important because they will allow us to identify cows that are sick like without going to a lab or anything, it'll all be on the farm and you won't have to touch the cows or collect milk. I mean, a blood sample or anything like that. So it could have some value in the future as precision dairying evolves.
Scott Sorrell (28:58):
Yeah. Good, very interesting, uh, very interesting conversation. So what's the future for Jackson? I know it's just your beginning of year degree, but uh, where do you see yourself going?
Jackson Seminara (29:10):
I mean, for now, I've got to finish the, uh,
Scott Sorrell (29:13):
The grind Ph.D.
Jackson Seminara (29:15):
Scott Sorrell (29:33):
Yeah. Awesome. Listen. Well, thank you for joining us tonight, Jackson. It's been a pleasure. Yeah.
Jackson Seminara (29:37):
Thanks
Scott Sorrell (29:37):
For having me. All right. Thank you, sir. All right. Cool. Thank you. And our next guest is Ursula Abuja from Michigan state university and she is the winner of the master's oral presentation. She's also got her, uh, advisor here, Andreas contracts. Thank you. And the vet program, Michigan state university. Um, Ursula, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (30:08):
Hello. Thank you for having me. Um, so I'm originally from Bru Lebanon. I was born and raised in Lebanon. I moved to us about seven years ago, um, for my, um, undergrad to Michigan state university. So I got, um, my, um, bachelor's degree in animal science at Michigan State. I graduated in 2020 and then immediately started, um, my graduate program in Dr. Contreras's lab.
Scott Sorrell (30:37):
Very well. So the, uh, presentation you gave the title was oleic acid limits Analysis and improved mitochondrial function in adipose tissue from per Urian dairy cows. Tell us about the thesis of your, uh, project.
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (30:54):
Um, so this work was done in collaboration with another lab in the animal science department at Michigan State. Um, for that project, uh, we wanted to look at the effect of oleic acid on the adipose tissue and more specifically lipid metabolism. Um, so we know all these benefits of oleic acid supplementation, and also during the early postpartum period on cow health and production. Um, so, we wanted to look more into, um, physical like the physiology in the cow, what is happening, um, especially in the adipose tissue.
Clay Zimmerman (31:31):
So why oleic acid?
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (31:34):
Oh, that's a good question. Um, so during, we all know that during the postpartum period, um, the cow is in negative energy balance and that's pretty norm normal, um, because it is, she mobilizes a lot of fat too, uh, to support milk production and energy requirements. Um, so to improve, um, energy intake and reduce this negative energy balance, one of the ways to do that is through, um, fatty acid supplementation and oleic acid has been shown to, uh, improve production and also minimize that body weight and body conditions, core losses. So that's why we, in this project, focus on oleic acid to see how it is, um, decreasing our minimizes, this body conditions, core loss.
Clay Zimmerman (32:27):
So what were your findings then
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (32:29):
In this study, we infused the cows with 60 grams of oleic acid per day. Um, in the ABMA, um, starting from the first day after Calvin, up until 14 days, we took adipose tissue biopsies. And, um, well, my focus, what I did, um, I focused on, uh, looking at the adipose tissue to look at, um, insulin sensitivity and we saw that oleic acid, uh, improved insulin sensitivity in the tissue. It also minimized it minimized, um, lipid, uh, mobilization. And we also saw that oleic acid, um, improved mitochondrial function, and he had a post tissue.
Clay Zimmerman (33:13):
Did you measure, uh, the performance of these, of the
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (33:16):
Cows production-wise? Yeah. Yes, we did. Um, but the focus of this study was more on the, um, metabolic side. Uh, so we only had 12 cows. We didn't see, uh, production response due to that.
Clay Zimmerman (33:31):
Are there, there other fatty acids that would cause similar, uh, responses or not, or is this, is this specific to a laic acid in, in these early L cows?
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (33:44):
Um, we, well, not us specifically, but we've seen there are, um, evidence for, uh, panic acid supplementation benefits also during the postpartum period. I wouldn't know specifically what would happen in the adipose tissue with poly acid since, that's not the focus of my research, I haven't tested it, but there could be potential for other fatty assets to have similar effects.
Clay Zimmerman (34:11):
So what would, what, okay, she's good. So would, what about later in lactation? So it, is the AOIC acid, is it, is it, uh, affecting lipogenesis
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (34:21):
It is. We're seeing that it is affecting, lipogenesis promoting lipogenesis, um, um, during that Nega, especially during that negative energy balance, um, and there are benefits for oleic acid also later in lactation and cows have been, are, have been supplemented with oleic acid later in lactation.
Scott Sorrell (34:42):
Yeah. Dr. Contrera, I feel kind of bad. She's, uh, done such a great job. You haven't had, you have had anything to say. Uh, what can you tell us about Ursula?
Clay Zimmerman (34:51):
The student?
G.A. Contreras (34:52):
Oh, she's great.
Scott Sorrell (34:53):
Yeah, isn't she though?
G.A. Contreras (34:54):
I mean she's yeah, she takes the, you know, this is a master's level, research that looks like a Ph.D.
Clay Zimmerman (35:02):
Yes. Very impressed.
G.A. Contreras (35:03):
That's why she's gonna stay in my lap. PhD
Scott Sorrell (35:08):
That's good. So is that, is that your, uh, your career track, you're gonna go on for your
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (35:12):
Ph.D.? That's my plan. Yes. Um, I love the Contreras lab so much and the Colombians that I decided that I wanna stay and pursue a Ph.D.
Scott Sorrell (35:23):
Okay. And after that, any, any ideas add, or just kind of keeping your, uh, avenues open?
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (35:28):
I do have some ideas and attending a DSA has helped me a lot and networking and talking to a lot of, um, professionals and industry people has opened my eye to all the different opportunities that I might have in the future. I'm leaning more towards, um, industry and doing research within the industry. Um, I wouldn't see myself, or I shouldn't say that maybe that would change, but as of right now, I just don't see myself in academia. Mm-hmm
Scott Sorrell (35:56):
Ursula Abou-Rjeileh (36:04):
Thank you so much for having me. All
Scott Sorrell (36:06):
Right. Very thank you. Thanks. Thank you. And our next winner is Thena Manila from Michigan state university. Then, uh, was the winner of the Ph.D. oral, uh, competition. Then tell us a little bit about yourself.
Thaina Mineola (36:28):
Very nice to be here. First of all, it's amazing too, that's
Scott Sorrell (36:32):
Nice to have you here.
Thaina Mineola (36:32):
Yeah. Experiencing this. Um, my name is Tana I'm from Brazil, actually Southern Brazil, a small little town in the west part of my state. So if you guys get, you know, an audience from an odd city, it'll probably be my friends watching this video.
Scott Sorrell (36:47):
Thaina Mineola (36:48):
So increase your, um, views. Uh, and I went to vet school in Santa Maria, federal university of Santa Maria and did an internship with Dr. Perley to conclude my degree in vet school. And from there, it was kind of, you know, natural. We worked well together and did my master's with him and stayed for the Ph.D. as well. Just kept going, you know, Brazil, we say you don't change teams that are winning, so we just kept going
Scott Sorrell (37:17):
Yeah. Now, do you have your Ph.D. yet?
Thaina Mineola (37:18):
Have you no, I'm a second year. Second Ph.D. student. Yep. Okay.
Scott Sorrell (37:22):
Very well. Now the title of your, uh, presentation was lactating cows inseminated, following asterisks have greater early pregnancy losses compared to the double. Uh, ay.
Thaina Mineola (37:34):
Yes.
Scott Sorrell (37:34):
Mm-hmm.
Thaina Mineola (37:38):
Yeah. So my thesis is focusing on trying to understand how pregnancy losses occur and also investigating common reproductive managements that we use on their farms and how they play a role in this pregnancy loss phenomena, cuz it's not something really, we get a lot of data, um, that we could understand this with a good, uh, baseline. So if you think about it for the past 90 years, our first pregnancy diagnosis is at around 35 days mm-hmm
Clay Zimmerman (38:44):
So I have to tell you, this nutritionist learned a lot from,
Thaina Mineola (38:48):
Yeah. I'm glad
Clay Zimmerman (38:49):
From watching your presentation.
Thaina Mineola (38:51):
Yes. I try to be as educational as
Clay Zimmerman (38:53):
Possible. So what is PS PB?
Thaina Mineola (38:57):
Uh, pregnancy-specific protein B yeah. Said that a lot of times.
Clay Zimmerman (39:03):
So what, what's the significance of that protein?
Thaina Mineola (39:07):
So this protein, as it says, is specific to pregnancy and is produced by the embryo. So it has, um, um, cool migratory behavior. So it goes from the side of the embryo migrates into the side of the model, and infuses with the material cells. And when it does that, it releases proteins into the maternal circulation. And that's when we know conceptus attachment happens, cuz these proteins only are in circulation. If there's an embryo there. So Ali and I go to the farm every day, collect blood samples, and then we looked at daily PSB increases and we can know when conceptus attachment happens and that's our new reference and PSB is also, it may have an endocrine function, but that's also unclear. So there are a lot of people working with that and trying to understand the function of that protein in pregnancy.
Clay Zimmerman (40:01):
So is there an on-farm test for
Thaina Mineola (40:04):
PS
Clay Zimmerman (40:04):
P mm-hmm
Thaina Mineola (40:05):
Yeah. Or no, the Eliza? No, it's a lab test. Sorry. No. Okay. The data collection is a lot of farm work. Yeah.
Clay Zimmerman (40:13):
Thaina Mineola (40:16):
Uh, usually if you can send out the samples, it would be two days to get your results. Or if you have Ella that can go to the lab, you could get the next day, you know okay. And do that. But what we do, we work with uh bioprint and we send the samples to them and they run it for us retrospectively. So we don't have our results as we are doing the study.
Clay Zimmerman (40:40):
Okay. So what were your findings compared? Uh, double off sync to natural Astras
Thaina Mineola (40:46):
Yeah. So what we saw is that cows that are inseminated following natural Astros have greater early pregnancy losses. And that was kind of in the back of our minds when we're doing, doing the study because other studies reported that cows, uh, on the double op sync program have greater fertility in comparison to cows that receive AI following asterisk. So we always wonder, is there a conception problem so that cows are not conceiving or they're losing the pregnancy before we even detected that pregnancy. And that's kind of what we see. We see the increase in PS P there is an embryo there, but for some reason, the pregnancy is not maintained. So that's a question for another grad student. Probably I have two more projects, but I don't know if I'll be able to answer why those happen.
Clay Zimmerman (41:34):
So D do we know what, what, what controls, when implantation takes place,
Thaina Mineola (41:41):
What do you mean
Clay Zimmerman (41:42):
When does that embryo implant in the uterus?
Thaina Mineola (41:46):
So, um, usually it's followed, uh, by maternal recognition of pregnancy. So before the physical communication, you need to have a chemical kind, a text message. I like to call. Yeah. So the embryo sends a text message to the mom and the text says in Terraform towel, that's the message mm-hmm
Scott Sorrell (42:32):
And see how you want, you make things so easy to understand even a marketing guy like myself can understand these
Thaina Mineola (42:37):
Well.
Scott Sorrell (42:37):
Nice. I understand it, but at least have some, you can picture, I can picture, I guess
Thaina Mineola (42:41):
Exactly. That's, that's why I'm here.
Scott Sorrell (42:44):
Excellent job. And congratulations. So thank you. Uh, you're in your Ph.D. program, and what are your plans after you graduate.
Thaina Mineola (42:51):
So as you guys can notice, I like to teach, but I like to research as well. So I like to acquire a position, uh, as a PI, but perhaps have some teaching, uh, experience as well on that position. But then I also like extension a lot. So I'm kind of keeping my options open in that regard. I think I'd be just working in the dairy industry would be, uh, something I enjoy, but right after the PG, I think I also need to get away from Dr. Perley cuz it's a comfort zone. Right. We work well together. Yeah. But I think I gotta kind of grew up and, um, just leave my adventures and maybe change a little bit the pace. So try and change, uh, advisors probably and do a post-doc somewhere else. Mm-hmm
Scott Sorrell (43:37):
Thaina Mineola (43:41):
Us tonight. Yeah, no problem. Thank you, guys. You
Scott Sorrell (43:51):
And our final guest this evening here at the ice cream, social is Connor McCabe. Connor is the dairy production director for GS D Connor was also involved in helping set all this up. So I've been looking forward to this Connor and meeting you in person finally. Right? We had some conversations, uh, virtually, but, uh, this is, uh, this is a treat, uh, give us a little bit of background and an overview of yourself.
Conor McCabe (44:13):
Sure. For certainly. And um, we're so glad that Biocom is a partner with GSD and able to help put on this event and uplift what, what the work our students are doing. And, and it's, it's thankful for partners like you and other sponsors we've had throughout this meeting that have made it the most of, of the week for, for all of us here in, in Kansas City. Um, a little about me I'm, I'm originally from Oregon, um, west coast, um, originally, um, grew up on my families. Uh, we had Christmas trees and a pumpkin farm
Conor McCabe (45:03):
Um, and there are a lot more dairy cows of course, in upstate New York. And I started gaining more, more appreciation for that with Mike van Amberg and, and Tom Overton doing research there went continued from that did a master's degree at, uh, Purdue university with, uh, Jackie Borman, um, where I completed that in December 2020, working around, uh, tissue mobilization and transition cows. And then I've always all along, had an interest in the environmental impact, of cattle production. What does the truth mean of that? How can we reduce it and what are some of our options out there? And so on January 21, I started my Ph.D. with, uh, Frank Lerner at UC Davis. Um, and, and a lot of my research that I presented here this week was looking at, um, what are different methane mitigation scenarios for California, um, through 2030. And what impact does that truly have on climate given methanes, you know, strong, um, impact and, and warming ability, but it is, has a very short lifespan mm-hmm
Scott Sorrell (46:13):
So, yeah. So speaking of that, what are the responsibilities of the dairy production director?
Conor McCabe (46:19):
Yes. So the, we, we didn't, we didn't define our roles too much over this last year. We kind of all, all played a part in, in making this, this, this event happen and come together. Um, one, one piece I had in, in particular, is, is, you know, representing the interest of those grad students who are coming from the production division. Um, that is the larger of the two, um, divisions we have here at ASA between foods and, and production and, and coming to the production meetings and, and giving the grad students, uh, input or, or, or report back on what we're doing. Um, but, but one of the main things I, I took part in, in this, um, planning for this meeting was for fundraising pieces and in talking to different industry groups and, and, um, get acquiring funds so we could increase the networking opportunities for our students, um, help lower that cost and, and help them make the most of their time here in Kansas City.
Conor McCabe (47:09):
Cuz those relationships are that we form right now, you know, they're gonna, they're gonna go real far mm-hmm
Scott Sorrell (47:42):
So when does your term as a dairy production director end?
Conor McCabe (47:45):
So that will probably be yeah, tomorrow,
Scott Sorrell (47:47):
Tomorrow
Conor McCabe (47:48):
That is the end of it. So I am, I'm coming up on the end of, of my, uh, sun sunset ride into as the time is, uh, production director. But, um, I just found out, uh, about six hours ago that uh, my time on the board will not be Dean as I will be continuing as, um, a DSA GSD vice president. Oh,
Scott Sorrell (48:08):
Nice. Congratulations.
Conor McCabe (48:08):
Congratulations. Thank you. Thank, thank you, um, for this next year. And that'll continue to, to, to your retire as, as president. So you haven't seen the last of me
Scott Sorrell (48:30):
There's. So tell us about next year. What can we look forward to? Any, it anything new?
Conor McCabe (48:34):
Certainly. So we're, we're, we'll be going to Ottawa. So that's definitely, I think the first time a DSA has been outside us in, in quite a few years. And so we're, we're hoping that um, you know, as, as people are, are getting more used to traveling, um, be, be closer to the Northeast, um, easier for some schools and a little bit more difficult for others. Um, one, one event that we have a DSA has been doing a lot of strategic planning throughout this meeting throughout this last year. Of course, I haven't been at the heart of it, but you know, I'll begin more involved. Um, but I think we want to look and, and figure out how can we look at a DSA as you know, not just a, not just a time of year when you come and present something or a time of year when you, you know, submit an abstract in February, but really how can we like help students build their skillset and have a way, um, to build off that along with a mentoring program that we want to work with, um, uh, groups such as ARPAs, um, we partnered with this meeting too, to create a mentoring program between individuals who are mid to late career, um, to help provide that advice.
Conor McCabe (49:33):
You know, cuz we, we we're good at the technical skills, technical side of things. Um, but when it comes to, you know, um, those soft skill aspects, you know, making that transition from, from that grad life into that early career, you know, there's, there are many things that, that we don't know and, and that would that kind of opportunities and having those relationships I think would help a lot. So that's something that I'm hoping to, to help, um, put together or, or, or add a little bit too of, um, what I, what I would like to do in this next year. Um, but I think we have a lot of opportunities on where we could go off this very successful meeting here.
Scott Sorrell (50:09):
Yeah. Excellent. Yeah. That's great. So after you complete your Scholastic career, what do you see yourself doing?
Conor McCabe (50:17):
Yes. So I, I, I certainly have a little bit more time here at, at Davis. Well, not, I'm not, we're not in Davis, we're, we're in the Midwest right now, but, um, I have probably two or three more years still to go, um, before, before I finish up. Um, but given my, my background in technology and looking at the environmental impact of dairy, what we can do to reduce set emissions, um, I, I see myself in, in being, um, I wanna be a sustainability leader in, in a company in, um, from the agriculture side, um, or the, um, um, consumer-oriented, um, side. So thinking about how do we reduce emission from livestock supply chains, um, using science-based, um, evidence-based outcome so that we can drive change, um, for, at the consumer level and, you know, take things from talking about it and implement that from, from, from some of the science and some of the research that I wanna be able to take part in. And I think this is, is one of the most exciting times to, to be in this area right now and, um, superly blessed for, for the opportunities that, that I've been given to me and, and AA has super helped out, um, in, in building on my network and, and getting to meet many of the individuals who are gonna be right alongside me. Um, as I yeah, finish up that career and go into, um, whatever comes
Scott Sorrell (51:33):
Next, whatever comes next. Exactly. Scott, I think we need to hire him. Yeah, I know. Well, I could tell you whatever comes next is that, uh, you and, and, and the fellow students, uh, that you've got a big challenge ahead of you. There's a lot of changing in agriculture and a lot of people gonna be counting on you, but from what I've been able to see this week, the kids that we and I shouldn't call 'em kids, the young adults that, that we've had an opportunity to talk to. Mm-hmm
Conor McCabe (52:12):
Yes, no, we'd love to have you back and I'm sure, sure. We can have, a whole set of new faces coming across this panel next year for you.
Scott Sorrell (52:19):
Sounds gotta look forward to it. Thanks, Connor. All right. Thanks, Connor. Thank you. Now
Speaker 12 (52:23):
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