Brandon Wong, Chemical Solutions Specialist

Brandon is a Solutions Specialist at Neogen, supporting Canadian clients with the company’s chemistry portfolio, including mycotoxins, allergens, and ATP. With a Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences from Queen’s University, he leverages his expertise in chemistry, microbiology, and quality assurance to address complex food safety challenges. Brandon works closely with clients across diverse industries, delivering tailored solutions for monitoring and verification technologies to enhance feed and food safety programs. Recognized for his analytical skills and commitment to staying ahead of industry trends, he is passionate about helping businesses achieve regulatory compliance and drive continuous improvement in quality standards.

Daniel Aubert, Microbiology Solution Specialist

Daniel is a Solution Specialist at Neogen, supporting Canadian clients with the company’s Microbiology portfolio, which includes sample collection, hygiene and quality indicator testing, and pathogen detection.

With a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Molecular Biology from the University of Paris 7, France, and over a decade of research experience, Daniel combines his scientific expertise with hands-on technical support to provide valuable insights into current testing technologies, their applications, and their relevance in preventive control programs. He specializes in addressing food safety challenges and optimizing testing processes, delivering impactful solutions that ensure safety, quality, and regulatory compliance across the food industry.t helping businesses achieve regulatory compliance and drive continuous improvement in quality standards.

Dr. Doug Korver received a Ph. D. in nutrition from the University of California, Davis, and joined the University of Alberta as Assistant Professor in 1997.  In addition to practical research on feedstuff quality and dietary supplement evaluation in poultry diets, Doug’s work focuses on nutrition-immune function interactions and bone biology in meat- and egg-type poultry.  He has authored or co-authored over 90 peer-reviewed articles, and 10 book chapters.  In 2016, he spent a 6-month sabbatical working with a major broiler integrator in Colombia.  He is currently part of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s committee to revise and update the 1994 Nutrient Requirements of Poultry. In 2023, he began a 3-year phased retirement from the University of Alberta after 26 years. He maintains teaching and research responsibilities as a Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta. He has also started a consulting company, Alpine Poultry Nutrition, Inc. His vision is to communicate the science of poultry nutrition to end users in the poultry industry around the world.

Prior to joining dsm-firmenich in 2011, Dr. Bergstrom completed his Ph.D. in swine nutrition and production and managed the swine research laboratory at Kansas State University (KSU). Before returning to KSU to complete a Ph.D., he was a swine nutritionist and production consultant at Kerber Milling Company in NW Iowa for nine years. He has shared authorship for more than 45 scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals and more than 185 scientific abstracts and extension publications.

Joshua Lyte is a Microbiologist at the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service Poultry Production and Product Safety Research Unit in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Dr. Lyte received his Bachelor’s degree at Texas Tech University in History and a Master’s degree in Food Science. His PhD in Food Science was completed at Iowa State University in 2016 and followed by a 2-year United States Air Force funded postdoctoral fellowship at the APC Microbiome Ireland Institute at University College Cork, Ireland. Dr. Lyte’s research focuses on the interface of the avian microbiome with the neurophysiological system during periods of stress in an effort to reduce enteric foodborne pathogens. Understanding of the evolutionary-based language that connects the microbiome and host neurophysiology represents a new frontier which will provide an understanding of the hitherto unknown novel mechanisms by which stress impacts host/bacteria interactions and thereby result in new modalities by which to control enteric foodborne pathogens during poultry production.

Walter Gerrits is professor in Animal Nutrition at the Animal Nutrition Group of Wageningen University since 2016, chairing the group since 2021. His publication record comprises 188 peer-reviewed publications, 12 book chapters and he has been editor of two books. He has supervised 28 PhD graduates, with currently 8 PhD scholars underway. Prof Gerrits is section editor monogastric nutrition for ANIMAL. After completing his PhD on growth modelling in calves, he worked as a research scientist for TNO Nutrition & Food Research Institute after which he started working at Wageningen University in 1999. His research focuses on digestive physiology and macronutrient metabolism in various species. Prof Gerrits has focused on interactions between nutrition, health and welfare. In whole-body metabolism studies, he combines indirect calorimetry with stable isotope tracer technology. Understanding of digestion kinetics is a key item in his research across species. In pigs, his research has focused on the quantitative impact of suboptimal health on nutrient digestion and metabolism and on novel feed ingredients replacing human edible products.

Dr. Anna Kate Shoveller received her PhD from the University of Alberta and is currently a Professor in the Department of Animal Biosciences, University of Guelph. Previously, she was employed by Procter & Gamble and Mars Pet Care where she added to the knowledge of dog and cat nutrition through investigation in the areas of energy metabolism and nutrient budgets of dogs and cats using indirect calorimetry and applying isotope dilution methodologies to quantify amino acids requirements in adult dogs. Shoveller has taken this experience and returned to academia where she teaches Companion and Equine nutrition and runs an active comparative nutrition research group. Her current research focuses on amino acid, fatty acid and energy metabolism in dogs and cats. She has published over 160 peer-reviewed papers, contributed to multiple book chapters, and applied for multiple patents. She has been awarded over 9 million in grants and contracts since joining Guelph nine-years ago. Shoveller not only has a passion to mentor young technologists, but she is also committed to the generation of highly qualified pet nutrition/product personnel. Kate’s students have gone on to positions in the animal nutrition industry, government and academia. This impact was recognized in 2021 when Shoveller was named the Champion Petfoods Research Chair in Canine and Feline Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism and in 2023 when she was awarded a University of Guelph Research Leadership Chair.

Dr Jennifer Ellis is an Associate Professor at the University of Guelph with a focus on Animal Systems Modelling. Ellis has been at UofG since 2019. Before that, she worked as a modelling research scientist for Trouw Nutrition, and previous to that spent 5 years at Wageningen University in the Netherlands as a Post Doctoral Fellow. Her BSc, MSc and PhD were obtained from the University of Guelph. Her passion area, and the focus of her research lab, is how to use models and digital tools to answer questions and aid in optimizing animal production systems. Her research program spans multiple species, and the breadth between mechanistic modelling and machine learning. She was a 2024 recipient of a University of Guelph Research Excellence Award, as well as a 2022 recipient of an LRIC Early Career Researcher Award.

Since the year 2000 Dahlen has been intimately involved in research efforts with a focus on reproduction, nutrition, and management of cattle and sheep. The emphasis of his current research program is to improve fertility in livestock species and to evaluate implications of nutrition and management strategies on reproductive and offspring outcomes. Dahlen joined the North Dakota State University faculty in 2010 as a Beef Cattle Extension Specialist where he engaged in integrated Extension and research efforts taking place on over 350 commercial beef operations. Dahlen was instrumental in developing innovative training methods that empower county, area, and state Extension personnel to better serve their beef-producing clientele. The unique mix of his research background and practical experience has led to several novel research techniques, data collection efforts, and training methodologies. Publications have been geared toward answering questions about developmental programming, focusing on implications of maternal nutritional management on offspring characteristics. In 2018 Dahlen transitioned to a position that allowed him to dedicate more time to research, as well as teach undergraduate/graduate classes in reproductive physiology. A new facet of his research program has been dedicated to addressing whether paternal (i.e. sire) nutrition and management was not only impacting semen characteristics and molecular composition, but also implicit in offspring outcomes. Other recent efforts involve evaluating impacts of nutritional perturbations during gestation on offspring and transgenerational endpoints. Dahlen’s efforts are supported by his wife Roberta and their sons, Arthur and Lyle.

Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt is a professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Montreal. He received his DVM and his MSc in clinical sciences from the University of Montreal and his PhD in population medicine from the University of Minnesota. He has held Faculty positions at the University of Guelph (1990-1996) and at North Carolina State University (1996-2004). Dr. Vaillancourt was the first coordinator of the Quebec team for the control of infectious poultry diseases. He was director of the research group on the epidemiology of zoonoses and public health (2009-2017) and associate director of the Public Health Research Institute of the University of Montreal (2013-2017). He has also been a member of Canadian advisory committees for the control of infectious diseases in poultry, swine and beef cattle. He has been a speaker and consultant on biosecurity in 26 countries. He currently leads an initiative to create the World Animal Biosecurity Association.

Sonja obtained her BSc and MSc degrees in Animal Sciences and PhD degree in Animal Nutrition at Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands. Her PhD research focused on the degradation of fibres in pigs and poultry, with special emphasis on processing and enzyme technologies to improve the nutritional value of  Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS) and rapeseed meal; two agricultural by-products that are widely used as animal feed ingredients. Since then, she has been working on the nutritional characterization of fibre-rich ingredients and the understanding of their fate in the digestive tract of animals, with the aim to increase the use of agricultural by-products in animal feed. After working at the Ingredient Research Centre of Trouw Nutrition R&D, The Netherlands, she joined the Animal Nutrition Group of Wageningen University. As an associate professor, she lead research projects and taught topics in the field of quantitative nutrition of monogastric animals, digestion kinetics, processing and enzyme technologies, and nutritional modelling, with special emphasis on dietary fibres and fibre-rich ingredients. Her research ambition is to understand the complexity of digestive processes in the animal and apply this knowledge to predict and improve the nutritional value of animal feed, ultimately aiming for sustainable and competitive use of feed resources without compromising animal performance and health. Currently, she is involved in several multidisciplinary projects, focusing on the challenges we face with the shift in feed resources and the increased fibre level of diets in circular agriculture; from pelleting technology to nutrient utilization and gut health. In 2017 she was awarded a personal Veni grant from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) to study fundamental principles of the effects of fibres on digestive physiology in chickens, to better understand how chickens cope with fibre-rich by-products and identify the role of genetics in the birds’ adaptation to such high fibre-diets.

Dr. David Huyben is from a cash crop and chicken farm near Sarnia, Ontario and completed his BSc and MSc degrees at the University of Guelph. He went abroad to complete his PhD at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala, Sweden with a focus on the yeast protein and the gut microbiome of farmed rainbow trout. Since then he pursued postdoctoral research at the University of Stirling within the Institute of Aquaculture where he investigated hypoxic stress and omega-3 fatty acids requirements of farmed Atlantic salmon. He has also collaborated on aquaculture projects in Norway, Finland, France and across Canada with a range of research on fish physiology, aqua-feeds and pathogen control. Since 2020, Dr. Huyben started as the Assistant Professor of Aquaculture at the Animal Biosciences Department, University of Guelph. His research program focuses on the nutrition, microbiome and health of farmed salmonid fishes, especially rainbow trout, lake whitefish and Atlantic salmon.

Dr. Farmer is a research scientist in sow lactation biology who has been working at the Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada since 1986. She obtained her B.Sc. from McGill University, her M.Sc. from the University of Saskatchewan and her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Farmer’s research goal has always been to improve sow milk yield and performance of suckling piglets. She was a pioneer in studying mammary development in gilts and she has published 172 scientific manuscripts, 10 book chapters, and is the sole editor of two books that were also translated and published in Chinese. Dr. Farmer’s expertise is recognized internationally as evidenced by her being a guest-speaker in 13 European countries as well as China, Australia, Mexico, Canada and the USA. In 2022, Dr Farmer received the American Society of Animal Science President’s Award for International Achievements in Animal Science. 

Dr. Greg Penner is a Professor in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science at the University of Saskatchewan. He was hired in 2009 after obtaining his bachelor’s degree (2004) and M.Sc. degree (2006) at the University of Saskatchewan, and his PhD from the University of Alberta (2009). Dr. Penner’s research focuses on forage utilization, beef and dairy cattle nutrition, and regulation of gastrointestinal function in ruminants. Through his research program, Dr. Penner has trained numerous undergraduate, MSc, PhD, PDF, and routinely supports training of visiting students. As an outcome of the collaborative research conducted, Dr. Penner has published over 185 papers in peer-reviewed journals and is a highly sought out speaker providing over 180 invited presentations since appointment. Greg also serves as co-Editor in Chief for the Canadian Journal of Animal Science. In recognition of his research program, Dr. Penner has been awarded with several awards at the University level, and from the Canadian Society of Animal Science, American Society of Animal Science, and the American Dairy Science Association. Greg is actively involved in teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels within the Animal Science program in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources. As part of his outreach, Dr. Penner participates as an organizing committee member for the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Conference, Western Canadian Dairy Seminar, and the Saskatchewan Pasture Tour. 

Dr. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson is a professor in the department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University and the Director of CSU AgNext.  CSU AgNext utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to advance sustainable solutions for animal agriculture.  Prior to leading CSU AgNext, Kim was the Director of Sustainability for JBS USA where she was responsible for coordinating the company’s corporate sustainability program and strategy. Kim also served as the Executive Director of Global Sustainability at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association where she developed the industry’s sustainability program. Kim received her PhD in Animal Science from the University of California, Davis and was a postdoctoral fellow at Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine Beef Cattle Institute. She was awarded as the 2018 Distinguished Young Alumni by the UC Davis College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. She and her husband, Spencer, live on the eastern plains of Colorado with their two sons, Weston and Callan.

Dr. Gabriel Ribeiro is an assistant professor and the Saskatchewan Beef Industry Chair in the Animal and Poultry Science Department at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Dr. Ribeiro comes from a family of beef and dairy farmers in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. He obtained his DVM, and MSc. and Ph.D. in Animal Science (ruminant nutrition) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) in Brazil. After the completion of his Ph.D., he worked as post-doctoral fellow at the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Lethbridge Research and Development Centre. Dr. Ribeiro research interest is in beef cattle production and nutrition. His research focus on uncovering nutritional strategies to improve health, performance, and profitability, while simultaneously lessening the environmental impact of beef cattle production.

Dr. Laura L. Hernandez is a Professor in the Animal and Dairy Sciences Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her Ph.D. in 2008 from the University of Arizona. Her area of research has focused on how serotonin controls the mammary gland and various aspects of lactation. Dr. Hernandez combines basic research from the cell to whole-animal level in a variety of mammalian species to broaden the focus on the importance of the mammary gland and its contributions to and regulation of a successful lactation in dairy cattle. The outcomes of her novel research are aimed at demonstrating the presence of factors (specifically serotonin) produced within the mammary gland that can control the animal’s physiology while lactating, particularly during the transition period when cows are the most metabolically and physiologically challenged. She specifically focuses on the interaction of serotonin and calcium metabolism during the transition period. Her research has determined that serotonin is an important regulator of mammary gland and maternal calcium homeostasis during lactation.

Dr. Joao Dorea is an Associate Professor specializing in Precision Agriculture in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also holds affiliate positions in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering and the UW Data Science Institute. Dr. Dorea’s research focuses on using AI and sensing technologies to uncover complex biological interactions in farm animals, driving advancements in agricultural practices. Dorea has large computer vision systems deployed for monitoring thousands of animals. His lab uses AI systems and remote sensing (drones and satellites) to study animal nutrition, health, and welfare, and to improve farm management decisions.