My research program's overarching goal is to advance dairy cows' health, fertility, and productive traits to optimize their contribution to environmental stewardship and sustainability of the global food supply.

My research program has been focused on three areas:

1) Reproductive performance: recent efforts include studying how genomic prediction for fertility traits translates into measurable reproductive outcomes and contributions of estrous synchronization program and endocrine profile to fertility. I also have continued to conduct studies to advance the understanding of the mechanisms by which nerve growth factor-ß influences ovulation, luteogenesis, embryo and conceptus development, and pregnancy in cattle.

2) Antimicrobial stewardship: my research has been investigating strategies to improve the judicious use of antimicrobials and the implication of microbiome to economically important diseases in dairy cows, such as mastitis and metritis. Recent efforts include integrating cow, environment, and microbial-related data to predict metritis spontaneous cure using deep artificial neural networks.

3) Host-genome and gut microbiome interplay on productive traits: My research program also investigates host-genome and gut microbiome interactions modulating the milk production and feed efficiency traits in dairy cows. Recent highlights included an artificial intelligence-driven approach to integrating rumen microbiome data to improve prediction for feed efficiency and a multi-omics strategy to investigate the potential mechanism by which rumen microbes modulate feed efficiency in dairy cows.