Animal Science

Our lab seeks to understand the role of microorganisms in the rumen, the fermentative organ of the digestive tract of ruminants. In recent years, a link was between the production efficiency of milk and meat from cattle and the microorganisms responsible for the fermentation of the feed in the rumen. In addition, ruminant agriculture encompasses an environmental burden due to the release of the greenhouse gas methane as a result of said fermentation process. Therefore, understanding the microbiological processes in the cow may lead to new strategies for improving yield, and at the same time mitigating the negative effects of animal agriculture on the environment. Our lab focuses on the interactions between the members of the microbial community in order to understand their effect on the host animal phenotype. The work combine classical anaerobic microbiology molecular biology and metagenomics.