Who we are is a big family who learns and works together. Our lab primarily focuses on enhancing the nutritional and health value of animal sourced foods, particularly dairy and red meat, through development of effective pre- and post-harvest strategies. Among nutrients, the content and composition of fat are most easily manipulated. Health effects of fatty acids are also divergent and implicated in promotion of both health and disease. Thus, the main focuses of our research program include: 1) analysis and identification of bioactive lipids in animal-sourced foods, 2) characterization of animal-derived fats using cell culture and animal models and 3) development of nutritional and management strategies to enrich/deplete healthy/unhealthy fatty acids in animal sourced foods. Given the recent emergence of plant and cell based meat alternatives, our lab also addresses the production/characterization of novel fat sources for meat substitutes.