Plenary Speakers

Cornell University

Feeding Babies and Their Microbiomes

Liz Johnson is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Nutrition and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Freeman Hrabowski Scholar at Cornell University. Her research program focuses on understanding how lipids mediate diet-microbiome-host interactions with the goal of manipulating these interactions for the benefit of host health. She studied biology at Spelman College before receiving an NSF graduate research fellowship to pursue a PhD investigating cell cycle transcriptomics at Princeton University. Johnson went on to study lipid-dependent host-microbe interactions during her postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Ruth Ley before joining the faculty at Cornell University in the Division of Nutritional Sciences. Johnson is a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar in the Humans & the Microbiome program and a Pew Biomedical Scholar. She enjoys thinking about the importance of host-microbe interactions in early life and finds much inspiration from her three small gut microbiome sample generators.

Bigelow Laboatory

Coast-Cow-Consumer: Algae nutrition and application in livestock diets

Dr. Nichole Price is a benthic marine ecologist with interest in how global change phenomena, like ocean acidification and warming, can alter bottom-dwelling species interactions, community dynamics, and ecosystem function in shallow coastal regimes. Nichole also applies her expertise to explore mitigation strategies for coastal acidification and climate change (e.g., blue carbon and uses of farmed seaweeds). She serves on the Maine Climate Council and Seaweed Fisheries Advisory Council, and leads several USDA supported research projects. She is based at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine.

Washington State University

Plants to Populations: Predicting Diet Quality and Nutrient Intake of Deer from Forage Metrics

Dr. Lisa Shipley is a Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Associate Director of Graduate Studies in the School of the Environment at Washington State University. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University, an M.S. in Wildlife Management from University of Maine, and a Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from Texas A&M University. Her research focuses on foraging behavior and nutrition of wildlife, adaptations for herbivory, and wildlife habitat selection and requirements. She has authored over 100 journal articles and book chapters, and supervised 44 graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and over 100 undergraduate independent projects. She established captive research and breeding facilities for deer and endangered Columbia Basin pygmy rabbits at WSU.