From our Animal Science department to you, we wish you a warm and wonderful holiday season. 🌞❄️

#HappyHolidays #WinterMornings #AnimalScience #HorsebarnHill #FarmLife ...

Undergraduate Student Research Spotlight: Loretta Bigelow `26 🧬✨

Loretta started her work by learning about the effects of PH in cattle. This condition is a noninfectious disease that reduces animal feed efficiency and growth rate and can eventually progress to right-sided heart failure. Beyond this, PH can also reduce the shelf life of fresh muscle food products by 30%, causing major economic losses and food waste. PH can be caused or worsened by high altitudes >1,524 m (5,000 ft), while high-altitude beef production systems in the US produce about 1.5 million calves per year. Approximately $60 million are lost annually due to complications associated with PH in high-altitude beef cattle production.

Muscle proteome is the complete set of proteins a muscle expresses at a particular time. Loretta started her work by researching each individual muscle protein changed by PH. She is currently compiling the whole bioinformatic output from this comparative dataset to conclude their interactive effects and how they work systematically to lead to phenotype differences in muscle and muscle food.

She is very grateful for the support and encouragement from Dr. Chaoyu Zhai and for the introduction to the field of proteomics. Loretta is planning on applying to veterinary school with the goal of working with large animals, and she believes that her experiences working in the Zhai lab will greatly benefit her in the future and open lots of doors. Dr. Zhai and his lab received a four-year USDA grant to conduct experiments to manage production efficiency and product defects caused by PH and understand this dynamic process from multiomic and mitochondrial biology perspectives.

#innovation #animalscience #science ...

Undergraduate Student Research Spotlight: Alana Wolfson `26 🧬✨

Alana Wolfson, an animal science sophomore in the honors program, is working with Dr. Sarah Reed on evaluating poor maternal nutrition and its impact on multiple generations of sheep. She has been a part of Dr Reed’s lab starting the fall semester of her freshman year. Moreover as an IDEA Grant and American Physiological Society SURF award recipient, she was given the opportunity to apply her inquiries to the sheep project.

Specifically her project involves evaluating the impact of poor maternal nutrition on muscle fiber morphology, and a phospholipid responsible for mitochondrial function. Currently, she’s gained experience on histology, mitochondrial enrichment, fluorometric assays, and DNA/RNA extraction techniques. The potential future works of her project would involve looking into other aspects that can impact ATP synthesis, mitochondrial activity, and the overall development of an animal.

This coming May 2025, Alana will present her work at the American Physiological Society’s Annual Summit with various figures in academia across the U.S. She is looking forward to networking and learning about current research in physiology and cell biology.

Alana’s future aspirations relate to both her interest in animal welfare and research. Alana’s past experience in shelter medicine has inspired her to dive deeper into aspects of everyday life such as nutrition, that can have an immense impact on an animal’s health. Her main goal is to apply her passion of veterinary medicine and animal science research for the rest of her life. She is extremely grateful for the research opportunities Dr Reed and the sheep project team has provided her, and hopes to continue exploring more questions and ideas in her lab.

#uconnanimalscience #uconncahnr #uconn #lifeonthehill #thisisanimalscience ...

Season`s eatings!🦃

#uconnanimalscience #uconncahnr #uconn #lifeonthehill #thisisanimalscience #thanksgiving ...

Don`t Forget! Registration for the new UConn Winter Riding Lesson program in Storrs, CT is now open! ❄️🏇

Lesson packages with flexible scheduling available in Dressage, Hunt Seat, Polo and Western at all levels. Come ride with us in one of the largest heated indoor arenas in the Northeast. Excellent GGT footing, experienced lesson horses, and exceptional instructors.

Learn more and register by December 2 by visiting the link in bio.

#uconnanimalscience #uconncahnr #uconn #lifeonthehill #thisisanimalscience #horse #horseriding ...

When it`s fall break but you`re just a chill guy who goes for walks on Horsebarn Hill...

#uconnanimalscience #uconncahnr #uconn #lifeonthehill #thisisanimalscience ...

The Department of Animal Science in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) at the University of Connecticut (UConn) invites applications for the position of Assistant Professor in Animal Science. Candidates with teaching and research interests in animal production are encouraged to apply. This is a 9-month, 75% teaching, 25% research, tenure-track position at UConn’s main campus in Storrs with an anticipated start date of Fall 2025.

See the full position description by visiting the link in bio.

Evaluation of applicants will begin December 1, 2024, and will continue until a successful candidate is selected. Inquiries should be sent by email to the search committee chair, Dr. Amy Safran (amy.safran@uconn.edu). ...

Registration for the new UConn Winter Riding Lesson program in Storrs, CT is now open! ❄️🏇

Lesson packages with flexible scheduling available in Dressage, Hunt Seat, Polo and Western at all levels. Come ride with us in one of the largest heated indoor arenas in the Northeast. Excellent GGT footing, experienced lesson horses, and exceptional instructors.

Learn more and register by December 2 by visiting the link in bio. ...