UNIMELB_KUDRIASHOVA-Anastasiia_VYT-LOCAL-2024.mp4

Dairy cow’s longevity in the herd, their health, fertility, and production are often influenced by the transition from gestation to lactation. Approximately 50% of cows in the herd affected by clinical or subclinical metabolic, reproduction or infectious diseases shortly before calving and during the first month of lactation (transition period). Our objective is to improve understanding of the transition period at a cellular level, in particular to identify genes that affect the successful transition to lactation. The project aims to collect blood samples from clinically ill and clinically healthy individuals from the same cohort. A range of metabolic, proteomic, lipidomic, transcriptomic and epigenetic assays will be undertaken on the same samples. Multi-omics data analysis will identify biomarkers, genes and/or genetic variants that are associated with clinical metabolic disease in the transition period. The outcome will be a holistic overview of transition cow pathophysiology, identification of novel biomarkers, and genes that affect successful transition to lactation. Knowledge gained will be used to develop and improve a breeding value for health and fertility.