LabNews
December, 2024
Happy holidays!
Big congratulations to Dr. Lauren Kovanda on achieving her PhD degree! Dr. Lauren Kovanda’s PhD research mainly focused on ‘Short chain fatty acids: impacts on intestinal physiology and disease resistance to enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in pigs’.
September, 2024
Big congratulations to Dr. Sangwoo Park on achieving his PhD degree! Dr. Sangwoo Park’s PhD research mainly focused on ‘Monoglycerides on Intestinal Integrity and Disease Resistance of Weaned Pigs’.
Welcome Dr. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong join our lab as a FulBright Visiting Scholar.
Lauren attended the 75th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production (EAAP), held from September 1 to 5 in Florence, Italy. She presented her latest research results on valerate derivatives.
Lauren also visited Perstorp in the Netherlands, which partially supports her PhD research and provides valerate products for the research projects.
July, 2024
Lauren attended the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) 2024 Annual Meeting, July 14 to 17 at Long Beach Convention Center, California, to present her research on ‘Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of E. coli and Enterococcus from retail pork in Hawaii’.
Robert attended the 2024 PSA (Poultry Science Association) Annual Meeting, July 15 to 18 at Louisville, KY to present his research on Tryptophan and coccidia in broiler chickens.
Yanhong, Sangwoo, and Jane attended the 2024 ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS Annual Meeting, July 21 to 25 at the Calgary Convention Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Sangwoo and Jane presented their research, and Yanhong gave an invited talk at the meeting.
Congratulations to Sangwoo, who was selected as one of ASAS National Young Scholar!
June, 2024
Yanhong joined the open ceremony of Nutreco’s Garden of the Future (https://www.nutreco.com/en/innovation-and-investments/Nutreco-Exploration/nutrecos-garden-of-the-future/) and highlighted the importance of ‘Phytonutrients on Disease Resistance of Weaned Pigs’.
April, 2024
Yanhong, Sangwoo, and Jane attended the PIG-PARADIGM Annual Meeting, at Wageningen campus from April 30 to May 2, 2024.
Sangwoo and Jane presented their research progress at the meeting. Yanhong led a study workshop on ‘Pig Husbandry Practices and Influence on Piglet Development’ with Dr. Jens Peter Nielsen, a Professor at the University of Copenhagen.
March, 2024
Welcome Youngmin Park joining our lab as Visiting Student!
Yanhong, Sangwoo, Lauren, and Jane attended the ASAS Midwest meeting (Madison, WI) to present their research.
Big congratulations to Lauren Kovanda, who was awarded as 2024 Midwest Animal Science Young Scholar.
January, 2024
Welcome Xiaogu (Tina) Du joining our lab as our lab manager!
September, 2023
Lauren Kovanda has been selected as an awardee for 2023-24 Austin Eugene Lyons Fellowship. Congratulations, Lauren!
Welcome Yating (David) Zhao joining our lab as Master student!
July, 2023
Lauren, Sangwoo, Supatirada (Jane) attended 2023 ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS Annual Meeting (Albuquerque, NM) to present their research.
May, 2023
Lauren, Sangwoo, Supatirada (Jane) attended 2023 California Animal Nutrition Conference (CANC, Fresno, CA) to present their research.
Big congratulations to Lauren Kovanda, who was placed 2nd in the poster competition.
March, 2023
Yanhong and Sangwoo attended the ASAS Midwest meeting (Madison, WI) to present their research Sangwoo Park – Organic acid blends on weaned pigs!
Big congratulations to Sangwoo Park, who was awarded as 2023 Midwest Animal Science Young Scholar. Sangwoo Park – ASAS Young Scholar Talk
December, 2022
Happy holidays!
Big congratulations to Dr. Cynthia Jinno on achieving her PhD degree! Please access Cynthia’s exit seminar via this link: Jinno Exit Seminar – Supplementations of Bacillus spp. on gut microbiota of weaned pigs under diarrheal stress
Big congratulations to Dr. Kwangwook Kim for starting his new journey! Kwangwook left the lab at the end of December to take a faculty position at Michigan State University!
Yanhong discussed the impact of E. coli in The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, sponsored by Eastman animal nutrition.
November, 2022
Congratulations on Sangwoo Park for passing his Qualify Exam!
October, 2022
Congratulations on Lauren Kovanda and Robert Hernandez for passing their Qualify Exam!
September, 2022
Welcome Shuhan (Cynthia) Sun joining our lab as PhD student!
July, 2022
Robert Hernandez attended 2022 Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting in San Antonio, July 11-14, 2022. Robert presented ‘Mixed coccidia challenge impacted the expression of inflammatory cytokines and tight junction proteins in broiler chickens’ as an oral presentation.
June, 2022
Dr. Kwangwook Kim was selected as one of ASAS National Young Scholar at ASAS-CSAS Annual Meeting, Oklahoma City, June 28, 2022! His invited talk: Supplementation of oligosaccharide-based polymer enhanced growth and disease resistance of weaned pigs by modulating intestinal integrity and systemic immunity. (Presentation_391_Kim_201)
May, 2022
May is Appreciation Month! The Novo Nordisk Foundation is highly appreciated for supporting a 5-year PIG-PARADIGM project ‘Improving Pig Diets to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance’.
https://www.ucdavis.edu/blog/improving-pig-diets-prevent-antimicrobial-resistance
April, 2022
Dr. Kwangwook Kim‘s poster was selected as the best poster presentation at the 7th Annual Postdoc Research Symposium-2022 (PRS-2022) at UC Davis! (PRS-2022_Poster)
Dr. Yanhong Liu attended the 1st International China-U.S. Swine Veterinarian Conference and gave a talk on ‘Alternative practices to promote weaned pig health – Nutritional Interventions’.
March, 2022
Yanhong Liu’s group attended the ASAS Midwest meeting to present their research!
Big congratulations to Dr. Kwangwook Kim and Cynthia Jinno!
Cynthia Jinno was awarded as 2022 Midwest Animal Science Young Scholar, which is one the most prestigious ASAS-ADSA awards provided to students and early career scientists.
Dr. Kwangwook Kim was selected as Stahly/Peo Outstanding Graduate Student in Swine Nutrition Award!
September, 2021
Big congratulations to Dr. Kwangwook Kim on achieving his PhD degree! Please access Kwangwook’s exit seminar via this link: https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/Kwangwook+Kim_Exit_Seminar+092821/1_sy8ssqpp
Kwangwook was selected as 2021 California Animal Nutrition Conference (CANC) Scholarship winner. An invited talk was presented at CANC, Sacramento, CA, September 30, 2021 (2021_CANC_Kwangwook_Kim_Scholarship(093021)). Hooray for Dr. Kim!
Big congratulations to Braden Wong on achieving his Master degree!
Welcome Supatirada Wongchanla joining our lab as PhD student!
July, 2021
Lauren Kovanda and Braden Wong virtually attended 2021 ASAS-CSAS-SSASAS Annual Meeting & Trade Show (July 14-17, 2021) to present their research!
Lauren Kovanda presented ‘Dietary butyrate and valerate glycerides: Effects on growth and systemic immunity of weanling piglets coinfected with F4 and F18 Escherichia coli‘ as an oral presentation.
Braden Wong presented ‘Dietary supplementation of botanicals changed blood profiles and intestinal morphology of weaned pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic Escherichia coli‘ as a poster presentation.
Kwangwook Kim virtually attended The International Association for Food Protection annual conference (July 18-21, 2021) and presented ‘Trace amounts of antibiotic in feed modified fecal microbiota of weaning pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic Escherichia coli‘ as an oral presentation.
March, 2021
Yanhong Liu group virtually attended the ASAS Midwest meeting to present their research!
Braden Wong presented ‘Dietary supplementation of botanicals enhanced growth performance and disease resistance of weaned pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli‘ as an oral presentation. (Wong Braden #19).
Cynthia Jinno presented ‘Supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on growth performance and diarrhea score of weaned pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli‘ as an oral presentation. (Jinno Cynthia #197).
Cynthia Jinno presented ‘Supplementation of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens on systemic immunity of weaned pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli‘ as a poster (Jinno Cynthia poster #PSII-14).
Cynthia Jinno presented ‘Dietary supplementation of Bacillus subtilis modified intestinal microbiome of weaned pigs differently to antibiotics’ as a poster (Jinno Cynthia poster #PSII-15).
Kwangwook Kim presented ‘Effects of oligosaccharide-based polymer on growth performance, diarrhea, and fecal beta-hemolytic coliforms in weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli‘ as an oral presentation (Kim Kwangwook #187).
Kwangwook Kim presented ‘Effects of oligosaccharide-based polymer on blood profiles in weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli‘ as a poster (Kim Kwangwook poster #PSII-16).
Yijie He was awarded as 2021 Midwest Animal Science Young Scholar, which is one the most prestigious ASAS-ADSA awards provided to students and early career scientists. Yijie gave a Awardee Talk ‘Supplementation of Bacillus species on performance and disease resistance of weaned pigs’. Congratulation, Yijie! (He_YS).
December, 2020
Big congratulations to Dr. Yijie He on achieving his PhD degree!
Please access Yijie’s exit seminar via this link: https://video.ucdavis.edu/media/Yijie+He+exit+seminar+12162020+Final+version/1_yzqgob61
September, 2020
Welcome Sangwoo Park and Robert Hernandez joining our lab as PhD student!
July, 2020
Graduate students, Kwangwook Kim, Lauren Kovanda, and Monika Hejna attended 2020 ASAS-CSAS-WSASAS Virtual Meeting and Trade Show.
Kwangwook got the 3rd place on PhD poster competition. He presented ‘Effects of very low dose antibiotics on gene expression profiles in ileal mucosa of weaned pigs infected with a pathogenic E. coli’ as poster presentation (PSIV-11). Big congratulations!
Lauren Kovanda presented ‘Butyric acid and derivatives: In vitro anti-inflammatory effects tested in porcine alveolar macrophages’ as poster presentation (PSIII-38) and ‘Butyric acid and derivatives: In vitro effects on barrier integrity of porcine intestinal epithelial cells quantified by transepithelial electrical resistance’ as oral presentation (#124).
Monika Hejna presented ‘Mint oils: in vitro anti-inflammatory effects tested in porcine alveolar macrophages’ as oral presentation (#125).
June, 2020
Big congratulations to Lauren Kovanda who graduated from Animal Biology of Graduate Group at UC Davis as a Master.
March, 2020
Yanhong Liu group attended the ASAS Midwest meeting (Omaha, NE, March 2nd to 4th, 2020) to present their research on Alternatives to Antibiotics!
Kwangwook Kim was awarded as 2020 Midwest Animal Science Young Scholar, which is one the most prestigious ASAS-ADSA awards provided to students and early career scientists. Kwangwook was invited to give a talk ‘Dietary supplementation of Bacillus subtilis influenced intestinal health and metabolomic profiles of weaned pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli’ (171_Kim_202).
Yijie He presented ‘Dietary supplementation of Bacillus subtilis modified microbiota metabolites in the intestine of weaned pigs’ as poster (PSVIII-2.He.Yijie).
Kwangwook Kim presented ‘Effects of Bacillus subtilis on colon digesta metabolomic profiles in weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli’ (PSVIII-7.Kim.Kwangwook).
Cynthia Jinno presented ‘Dietary supplementation of Bacillus subtilis modified fecal microbiome of weaned pigs in comparison to antibiotics’ as poster (PSIX-5.Jinno.Cynthia).
Lauren Kovanda presented ‘Investigating the biological activities of sodium cellobionate produced from cellulosic biomass’ as poster (PSIX-17.Kovanda.Lauren).
Monika Hejna presented ‘ Effects of tannin supplementation on zootechnical performance and blood parameters of weaned piglets’ as poster (PSIX-12.Hejna.Monika).
November, 2019
Yanhong Liu was awarded 2019 Hellman Fellow. https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/hellman-fellowships-arrive-just-right-time?utm_source=datelinehtml&utm_medium=datelinenewsletter&utm_campaign=dateline_20191112
Yanhong Liu attended Multistate project NC1202 annual meeting and 100th CRWAD (Conference of Research Workers in Animal Diseases) Meeting at Chicago, IL, Nov 2-5, 2019 and presented ‘Dietary Bacillus subtilis enhances disease resistance and intestinal health of weaned pigs‘ (CRWAD 2019 poster 92) as poster presentations.
Yanhong Liu and Kwangwook Kim attended 2019 FeedAdditives Americas at Miami Nov 12 to 15 2019. Yanhong was invited to talk ‘New research into plant-based feed additives‘ (Feed Additives Americas 2019 LIU).
October, 2019
Congratulations to Kwangwook Kim, Cynthia Jinno, and Lauren Kovanda, who received Jastro-Shields Award through the Animal Biology Graduate group!
September, 2019
Welcome Braden Wong joining our lab as Master student!
Welcome Monika Hejna from University of Milan joining our lab as visiting student! Monika will study at UC Davis from September 2019 to March 2020.
August, 2019
Cynthia Jinno was awarded ‘the 2019 Microbiome Graduate Research Award’ associated with her microbiome research on ‘Effects of Bacillus subtilis on fecal microbiota of weaned pigs challenged with a pathogenic E. coli‘. Big congratulations, Cynthia!
https://microbiome.ucdavis.edu/news/graduate-research-awards-announcement
July, 2019
Kwangwook Kim attended 2019 ASAS CSAS Annual Meeting and Trade Show, Austin, TX, July 8-11, 2019 and presented ‘Effects of antibiotics on serum metabolomic profiles in weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli‘ (PSII-13.Kim.Kwangwook) as poster presentations.
June, 2019
Big congratulations to Nicole Doan and Cynthia Jinno who graduated from Animal Biology of Graduate Group at UC Davis as a Master.
May, 2019
Yijie He, Kwangwook Kim, Cynthia Jinno, Lauren Kovanda, and Sheena Kim attended California Animal Nutrition Conference (CANC), Fresno, CA, May 8-9, 2019.
- Yijie He presented ‘Effects of Bacillus subtilis probiotics on growth performance, diarrhea, and intestinal health of weaned pigs experimentally infected with an enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli‘ as a poster presentation (Yijie He – CANC 2019).
- Kwangwook Kim presented ‘Effects of antibiotics on growth performance, diarrhea, bacterial translocation, and blood profiles in weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pahtogenic E. coli‘ as a poster presentation (Kwangwook Kim – CANC 2019).
- Cynthia Jinno presented ‘Enzymatically digested food waste altered the fecal microbiota of growing-finishing pigs’ as a poster presentation (Cynthia Jinno – CANC 2019).
- Lauren Kovanda presented ‘Susceptibility of several species of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria to organic acids and their derivatives’ as a poster presentation (Lauren Kovanda – CANC 2019).
- Sheena Kim presented ‘Dietary spray dried plasma on systemic immune responses of lactating sows and their litters’ as a poster presentation (Sheena Kim – CANC 2019).
March, 2019
Yanhong Liu, Yijie He, Kwangwook Kim, Cynthia Jinno, Lauren Kovanda, Sheena Kim, and Byeonghyeon Kim attended the 2019 ASAS ADSA Midwest meeting, Omaha, NE, March 11-13, 2019.
- Yanhong Liu was invited to talk ‘Nutritional intervention for the intestinal development and health of weaned pigs’ as the keynote speaker in DSM Symposium.Yanhong Liu presentation Midwest 2019
- Yijie He presented ‘Effects of Bacillus spp. probiotics on sytemic immunity and intestinal health of weaned pigs experimentally infected with an enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli‘ (He.Yijie Midwest 2019 Oral presentation 1) and ‘Effects of Bacillus subtilis probiotics on growth performance, diarrhea, and fecal ß-hemolytic coliforms of weaned pigs experimentally infected with an enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli” (He.Yijie Midwest 2019 Oral presentation 2)
- Kwangwook kim presented ‘Effects of antibiotics on growth performance, diarrhea, and bacterial translocation in weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli‘ (Kim.Kwangwook Midwest 2019 Oral presentation 1) and ‘Effects of antibiotics on blood profiles in weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli’ (Kim.Kwangwook Midwest 2019 Oral presentation 2).
- Cynthia Jinno presented ‘Supplementation of Bacillus subtilis modified fecal microbiota of weaning pigs experimentally infected with pathogenic E. coli‘ (Jinno.Cynthia Midwest 2019 Oral presentation) and ‘Feeding enzymatically digested food waste altered fecal microbiota of growing-finishing pigs’ (Jinno.Cynthia Midwest 2019 Poster).
- Sheena Kim presented ‘Growth performance and immune responses of weaned pigs from lactating sows fed dietary spray dried plasma’ (Kim.Sheena Midwest 2019 Poster).
- Byeonghyeon Kim presented ‘Dietary spray dried plasma on immune responses of lactating sows and their litters’ (Kim.Byeonghyeon Midwest 2019 Poster).
Kwangwook won the 1st place in the PhD oral presentation competition. Big congratulations!
February, 2019
Yanhong organized and hosted 2019 Multistate ‘W4002: Nutrient Bioavailability – Phytonutrients and Beyond’ annual meeting, at UC Davis, Feb 7-8, 2019.
January, 2019
Yanhong Liu attended the multistate ‘NCCC42: Committee on Swine Nutrition’ annual meeting, in Orlando, FL, Jan 3-4, 2019.
December, 2018
HOEDOWN HOLIDAY PARTY at Horse Barn. Merry Christmas!
September, 2018
Welcome Sheena Kim from Chungnam National University joining our lab as visiting student! Sheena will study at UC Davis, from September 2018 to September 2019.
July, 2018
Kwangwook Kim, Yijie He, Cynthia Jinno, and Lauren Kovanda attended the 2018 ASAS-CSAS Annual Meeting and Trade Show, Vancouver, Canada, July 9-12, 2018.
June, 2018
Big congratulations to Kwangwook Kim who graduated from Animal Biology of Graduate Group at UC Davis as a Master.
May, 2018
Kwangwook Kim, Yijie He, and Cynthia Jinno attended the 2018 California Animal Nutrition Conference, Fresno, CA, May 2-3, 2018.
- Kwangwook kim presented ‘Supplementation of Bacillus subtilis enhanced growth rate and gut barrier function of weanling pigs experimentally infected with F18 Escherichia coli‘. 2018 CANC Poster_Kwangwook Kim
- Yijie He presented ‘Effects of Bacillus spp. probiotics on growth performance, diarrhea, and systemic immunity of weaned pigs experimentally infected with an enterotoxigenic E. coli‘ 2018 CANC Poster_Yijie He
- Cynthia Jinno presented ‘Enzymatically digested food waste as feed for growing-finishing pigs’ 2018 CANC Poster_Cynthia Jinno
Kwangwook won the 1st place for poster competition. Big congratulations!
April, 2018
Dr. Xia Xiong attended the 2018 Experimental Biology, in San Diego, CA, April 20-24, 2018. Dr. Xiong presented ‘Effect of dietary soy oil, glucose and glutamine on the growth performance, amino acid profile, blood profile, immunity and antioxidant capacity in weaned piglets’.
March, 2018
Our group attended the 2018 ASAS-ADSA Midwest meeting, in Omaha, NE, March 12-14, 2018.
February, 2018
Yanhong Liu attended the multistate ‘W3002: Nutrient Bioavailability – Phytonutrients and Beyond’ annual meeting, in Tucson, AZ, Feb 7-9, 2018.
January, 2018
Welcome Dr. Minho Song from Chungnam National University joining our lab as a visiting scholar!
Welcome Lauren Kovanda joining our team as a junior specialist!
Yanhong Liu attended the multistate ‘NCCC42: Committee on Swine Nutrition’ annual meeting, in Orlando, FL, Jan 3-5, 2018.
September, 2017
Welcome our new PhD student Yijie He and Master student Cynthia Jinno!
July, 2017
Dr. Xia Xiong joined our lab as Visiting Scholar, welcome!
Our group attended 2017 ASAS-CSAS Annual Meeting and Trade Show, Baltimore, MD, July 8-12.
- Cynthia Jinno presented her undergraduate research ‘Chemical composition of enzymatically digested food waste byproducts’ Jinno Cynthia #116.
- Kwangwook Kim presented his Master research ‘Effects of dietary β-glucan on growth performance, diarrhea, and gut permeability of weanling pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic E. coli’ Kwangwook Kim #69.
Kwangwook won the 3rd place at the ASAS Graduate Student Poster Competition: M.S. Division. Congratulations, Kwangwook!
We had a great dinner with our friends from Chungnam National University, Dr. Minho Song’s lab.
May, 2017
Our group attended 2017 California Animal Nutrition Conference, Fresno, CA, May 10-11.
Kwangwook won the 2nd place poster competition. Big congratulations!
Yanhong attended 2017 W3002 Multistate Meeting, Portland, OR, May 24-25.
April, 2017
Cynthia Jinno and Nicole Doan joined the lab as Junior Specialist. Welcome!
February, 2017
Zhaohai Wu joined our lab as Visiting Student. Welcome!
January, 2017
Yanhong Liu attended the multistate ‘NCCC42: Committee on Swine Nutrition’ annual meeting, in Orlando, FL, Jan 5-6, 2017.
December, 2016
Yanhong Liu attended the 2nd International Symposium – Alternatives to Antibiotics (ATA) – Challenges and Solutions in Animal Production, in World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Paris, December 13 to 15, 2016. Dr. Liu gave a invited talk ‘Dietary phytonutrients enhance disease resistance of pigs‘.
Dr. Bie Tan joined our lab as an Visiting Scholar, welcome!
November, 2016
Yanhong Liu attended the Symposium on the Inheritance and Innovation of Swine Nutrition and Feed Science, Beijing, China, Nov. 24-25, and attended the Open Ceremony of Feed Museum at MAFIC, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China, Nov. 26. 
October, 2016
Yanhong Liu attended 2016 CLANA at Fiesta Americana Coral Beach, Cancun, Mexico, Oct 10-14. Dr. Yanhong Liu gave a invited talk ‘Immune-response-to-phytonutrients-in-pigs-antioxidant-response-2016-clana‘.
September, 2016
Vivian Perng joined the lab as Junior Specialist.
July, 2016
Yanhong Liu, Peng Ji, and Kwangwook Kim attended 2016 ASAS-ADSA-CSAS-WSASAS Joint Annual Meeting at Salt Lake City, UT, July 19 to 23.
Dr. Yanhong Liu gave a talk in the Non-nutrition: the Future of Nutrition Symposium with title ‘Non-nutrients in swine health and production 2016‘
May, 2016
Yanhong Liu attended a Multistate meeting focusing on ‘Nutrient Bioavailability – Phytonutrients and Beyond’ at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, May 24 and 25.
March, 2016
Welcome Kwangwook Kim joined our group as a visiting student. Kwangwook is doing his MS at Department of Animal Science and Biotechnology at Chungnam National University. His research interests are how to use functional protein to improve pig health and performance. Kwangwook will enroll Animal Biology Graduate Group (ABGG) at UC Davis from Fall quarter, 2016.
Yanhong Liu attended ADSA-ASAS Midwest Meeting at Des Moines, IA, March 12-16.
January, 2016
Yanhong and Peng moved to UC Davis !