Graduate College Fall 2020 Research Excellence Award – Johana Mayorga
Congratulations to Johana Mayorga for being recognized by the Graduate College for her research excellence. These awards are offered each semester to recognize students for outstanding research or creativity as seen in their theses and dissertations. These students are also expected to be academically superior in both research and their ability to develop a well-written product.
Johana’s research has focused on studying heat stress and the consequences of environmental hyperthermia on pig health and productivity. Because many of the negative effects of heat stress are mediated by reduced intestinal integrity, she specifically studies how a compromised intestinal barrier alters the metabolic, endocrine, and immune responses in the pig. One of the main topics of Johana’s research is identifying nutritional and therapeutic alternatives aimed to alleviate the negative effects of heat stress. The findings from these studies would be of particular importance for the development of novel dietary and therapeutic approaches to treat heat-related production losses in animal agriculture.
“Johanna’s research investigates how heat stress and the resulting immune activation interfere with normal nutrient partitioning. This has implications to multiple areas of applied pig production as intestinal hyper-permeability is a consequence of many stressors including weaning, over-crowding, and off-feed events,” said Lance Baumgard, Norman L. Jacobson Endowed Professor in Dairy Nutrition.
Pictured: Dr. Dan Thomson, department chair, Johana Mayorga, Dr. Lance Baumgard
Read more about these awards or nominate a student here: