Meet The Speakers

Chen is a Hub-funded graduate student at UW–Madison. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in food science mentored by assistant professor Tu-Anh Huynh. Chen received her bachelor’s degree in food science engineering from South China University. As an undergraduate, she developed valuable leadership, laboratory, and analytical skills through her course work and as a project leader for soy sauce yeast research.

Project summary: Listeria monocytogenes (Listeria) is a prominent foodborne pathogen of particular concern in the dairy industry. Listeria is ubiquitous in dairy farms and easily contaminates contaminates dairy products. Due to its resilience to many stresses encountered during food processing, and the ability to form biofilm on different materials, Listeria is extremely difficult to eradicate in dairy processing plants. Adding to the complexity of controlling Listeria, there is an increasing market demand for bio-preservatives in food, but those products must be both efficacious and compatible with sensory quality. This work specifically looks at Listeria inhibition in laboratory cultures and on cheese ripening board surfaces.

Dietrich is a postdoctoral research associate in the Girard Lab, which studies food protein chemistry, at UW–Madison. She obtained her BS in chemistry and mathematics from Roberts Wesleyan College and her PhD in chemistry (chemical biology path) from UW-Madison.

Project summary: Demand is increasing for foods with high fiber and protein contents, especially bioactive proteins with health-promoting functions. An underutilized source of these nutrients is dairy whey, a byproduct of cheese production. The dairy whey coproducts whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC) and delactosed permeate (DLP) are primarily used in low value products. Yet, WPPC contains at least 50% protein, including 23% bioactive, potentially prebiotic, proteins. DLP contains 60% lactose, which can be converted to fiber. This project aims to increase the value of whey coproducts by incorporating WPPC and DLP into snack foods. Glycomacropeptide (GMP), a bioactive antimicrobial whey protein that reduces weight gain will also be incorporated. The results of this study aims to demonstrate ingredient functionality to produce innovative, nutritious snack foods that will improve the marketability of dairy whey ingredients and increase profits for dairy farmers and processors.

Lang is a graduate student at UW–Madison. He is currently pursuing a master's degree in food science mentored by associate professor Bradley Bolling. Lange received his BS degree in food science from UW–Madison and as a graduate student, he is working towards the goal of streamlining the analysis of the small molecules in dairy products via liquid chromatography mass spectrometry.

Project summary: Production of high-quality milk, cheese, and other dairy products is essential to the Wisconsin dairy industry. Conventional methods to monitor dairy product quality use non-specific compositional analysis, such as fat content, or a limited number of molecules, such as lactose or lactic acid analysis. In contrast, thousands of small molecules are present in dairy products, including secondary metabolites from cows and bacterial metabolites resulting from fermentation or processing. This project will establish high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) methods for analysis of small molecules in dairy products. The resulting data will be used to define small molecules that differentiate dairy products in quality. Providing analysis of this broader array of compounds in dairy will lead to a better understanding of the health benefits of dairy consumption, enable authentication of dairy processes and products, lead to discovery of new dairy quality attributes, and enable more specific monitoring of animal health.

Mohapatra is a research associate at UW–Madison. Her postdoctoral fellowship is Hub-funded and she is a member of the Pan Lab, which researches bioenergy and bioproducts, at UW–Madison. Mohapatra received her PhD in fermentation technology from Biju Patnaik University in India.

Project summary: This project intends to synthesize galactooligosaccharides (GOS) from lactose as a cow milk supplement to promote probiotic growth and improve gut health in humans. GOS is a major component in HMO, which plays a crucial role in infant development by benefiting bifidogenic effect, preventing the attachment of pathogens to the intestinal mucosa, stimulating the immune system, and providing sialic acid as an essential nutrient for infants. However, cow milk is is deficient in HMO. Therefore, supplementing milk with GOS has potential benefits to improve intestinal health. In this project, researchers will synthesize GOS from lactose using an innovative low-cost non-enzymatic method. Researchers will then evaluate the prebiotic benefits of the synthesized GOS to stimulate the growth of probiotic bacteria via in vitro fermentation and in vivo animal test with the GOS-supplemented milk. The high value GOS from lactose and the GOS supplemented milk are expected to create new revenue for the dairy industry. This research will generate new knowledge on the chemistry, synthesis, and prebiotic benefits of GOS.

Becher is a graduate student at UW–Madison. She is currently pursuing her PhD in food science mentored by Center for Dairy Research scientist Rani Govindasamy-Lucey. Her research involves looking at functional properties of string cheese, like stringiness, as well as flavor changes during storage. In addition, she is also researching how to extend the characteristic squeak of fresh cheese curds.

Project summary: Sound is an important consumer expectation in snacks (e.g., cookies, chips, etc.) with various attributes like crispiness and crunchiness. Chewing sounds, such as crispiness, are primarily an acoustic sensation detected by the ear during the fracture of a crispy food. Snack foods also must meet various textural expectations. In developing new snacks, researchers should monitor both textural and acoustic parameters. This can be achieved by recording and analyzing sounds during texture tests. For example, compression in a texture analyzer device equipped with a microphone. Acoustic parameters, such as loudness and intensity, are found to be related to sensory crispiness and crunchiness of various snacks. However, there have been no studies on the squeakiness of fresh cheese curds or methods to extend the squeak of cheese curds beyond a few days. This project aims to explore methods for monitoring sounds during actual human chewing of cheese curds in the mouth by using ear microphones.

Antunes is a graduate student at UW–Madison. She is currently persuing her master's degree in nutritional sciences mentored by assistant professor Joseph Pierre. She earned her bachelor’s in nutrition from the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Project summary: Parenteral nutrition (PN) is a clinical method of intravenous feeding that provides lifesaving nutrition support in patients who cannot feed via the gastrointestinal tract, due to trauma, surgery, intestinal inflammation or obstruction, or premature birth. PN is composed of dextrose, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, and lipids provided as emulsions. While lifesaving and used in over 300,000 patients a year in the U.S., the lipid emulsion formulations developed over the last 50 years remain problematic and are a major hurdle in optimizing metabolic requirements, growth, and preventing progressive liver complications. Soybean oil is commonly used in many emulsion formulations despite containing phytosterols that likely induce liver toxicity. This project aims to test novel milk lipid emulsions in animal models for characterization of metabolic and immune response, as a superior solution to remedy clinical lipid nutrition issues.

Guinan is a graduate student at UW–Madison. She is currently pursuing her doctorate in dairy science mentored by professor Kent Weigel and assistant professor Francisco Peñagaricano. Her research focuses on dairy cattle genetics and data analytics.

Talk summary: Guinan will discuss her research investigating machine learning methods to calculate resilience indicators for US dairy cattle using daily milk weights from in-line milk meters and automatic milking systems.

Martinez Boggio is a post doctoral research associate at UW–Madison. He is a member of the Peñagaricano lab, and his research focuses on reducing enteric methane emissions from dairy cattle and the development and application of methods to incorporate omics traits.

Talk summary: Martinez Boggio will discuss his work on reducing enteric methane emissions from dairy cattle using genomics.

Cavani is a postdoctoral research associate at UW–Madison in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. Her postdoctoral fellowship is Hub funded and is mentored by professor Kent Weigel. She studies genomic selection for feeding behavior and efficiency in dairy cattle.

Project summary: This project seeks to improve the health and welfare of dairy cows and the sustainability of dairy farms by genetic selection for resistance to, and rapid recovery from, environmental and management disturbances. Researchers will use data from approximately 220 commercial dairy farms to develop and evaluate measures of resilience based on deviations in daily milk yield from expected performance. The research team will validate the ability of resilience traits that can be measured on commercial farms to reflect underlying changes in feeding behavior, feed consumption, and energy balance using dry matter intake and residual feed intake data from nearly 10,000 cows at research stations throughout North America, Europe, and Australia. Lastly, researchers will use pedigree, genome, and performance data from the research stations and cooperating dairy farms to develop a prototype for routine genetic evaluation of resilience in U.S. Dairy cattle, with the aim of enhancing their ability to cope with challenges and preform at a higher level under variable management and environmental conditions.

Webster is a postdoctoral research associate at UW–Madison in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. Her postdoctoral fellowship is Hub-funded and is mentored by professor Laura Hernandez. Her research involves the interaction of serotonin and early lactation hypocalcemia on the mammary biology of dairy cattle. 

Project summary: Hypocalcemia, which causes lethargy and death if left untreated, is a common and pervasive disease in the dairy industry. Research has shown that inducing transient hypocalcemia prepartum causes a resistance to the disease postpartum. 5-HTP, the precursor to serotonin, infusion prior to calving has been effective in this process. Five percent EGTA infusions also induce hypocalcemia but have never been administered prepartum. This research team aims to answer the following questions: 1) is 5-HTP more efficient than EGTA in inducing transient hypocalcemia prepartum and improving calcium concentrations postpartum? 2) What are the effects of EGTA and 5-HTP on endocrine functionality systematically and at the mammary cell level? To investigate the research team will infuse 24 Holstein cows with either 5-HTP, EGTA, or control saline for 7 days prior to their expected calving dates. Researchers will then analyze blood, milk, and mammary tissue. Blood samples will be taken during and after infusion to measure calcium concentrations, reproductive hormones, and immunity markers. Mammary biopsies taken postpartum will be analyzed for calcium transporters in mammary epithelial cells. These methods allow researchers to compare mechanisms of action of 5-HTP and EGTA in inducing and resolving hypocalcemia postpartum.

Young is a postdoctoral research associate at UW–Madison in the Department of Bacteriology. Her postdoctoral fellowship is Hub-funded and she is mentored by associate professor Garrett Suen. In the Suen lab, they research herbivore-associated microbial ecology, rumen microbiology, metagenomics, and biofuels.

Project summary: A healthy and optimal rumen microbiome is critical to the wellbeing of highly productive dairy cows. Efforts to improve milk production by leveraging the rumen microbiome have been hampered by the inability to sample the rumen in a rapid and non-invasive manner. Current methods for rumen sampling are invasive, laborious, and not feasible for large herds. A non-invasive method known as buccal swabbing, which involves the swabbing of the inside of an animal’s cheek, was recently proposed as a substitute for the rumen microbiota. This project is expanding on prior research comparing buccal swab sampling with rumen samples.

Nascimento is a postdoctoral research associate at UW–Madison in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. She is mentored by assistant professor Francisco Peñagaricano and professor Kent Weigel. Her research is focused on the effect of heat stress in feed efficiency of dairy cows and involves quantitative genetics and high-throughput phenotypes. 

Talk summary: Nascimento will discuss the effect of heat stress in feed efficiency of dairy cows.