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Koryn HarePosition/Title: Ph.D. Candidate email: koryn@uoguelph.ca Phone: Office:
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Ph.D. Advisors: Dr. Michael Steele and Dr. Katie Wood
My Academic Path: My Saskatchewan rural roots and experience with cattle and other livestock spurred me to pursue an undergraduate degree in Animal Science. During this degree, I found my passion for ruminant research, and, ever since, I have been following where this passion leads. Most recently, this path has brought me to Ontario to undertake my Ph.D. degree at the University of Guelph, working with Dr. Michael Steele and Dr. Katie Wood and their respective labs on colostrum production and composition.
My Ph.D. Pursuits: I have a keen interest in all things colostrum because we have so much to learn about its production and composition, and, ultimately, its benefits for newborn calves. Working with the cow herd at the Ontario Beef Research Center, I have been looking at how the cow’s energy intake and metabolism before calving impacts how much colostrum she produces and its composition. When we increased the amount of energy consumed before calving, the cows to became more insulin resistant and had greater colostrum, antibody, and insulin yield. Insulin is a key hormone for the body, so next, I opted to uncover how feeding high or low colostrum insulin concentrations could affect a newborn calf’s development. The amount of insulin in colostrum had multiple effects on intestinal development (gene expression, lactase activity, and surface area) that led to changes in newborn calf metabolism. While this project wraps up my Ph.D. research, it would be interesting to see if the improvements in intestinal development associated with high colostrum insulin levels lead to sustained health and growth benefits for calves before weaning. My supervisors and I have also been working with Dr. Greg Penner at the University of Saskatchewan to use an ex vivo (Latin: “out of the living”) technique to see if insulin can influence intestinal antibody absorption.
Previous Education:
Degree: B.Sc. Ag., Major in Animal Science (University of Saskatchewan, 2015)
Thesis: Evaluation of concentrate feeding strategies in an automatic milking system
Supervisor: Dr. Greg Penner
Degree: M.Sc.-Thesis, Major in Animal Science (University of Saskatchewan, 2018)
Thesis: Does providing predicted metabolizable protein in excess of requirement prior to calving mitigate deficiencies in nitrogen balance during the transition period and improve cow-calf performance?
Supervisor: Dr. Greg Penner
Professional Affiliations: