Six Canadian students took home national and North American awards in this year’s Alltech Young Scientist Competition, and five of the winners were U of G students.
The global awards program, which recognizes scientific innovation through research, is sponsored by Alltech, an American animal health and nutrition company headquartered in Kentucky.
In the graduate category, U of G students Marlene Paibomesai, Kayla Price and Mikayla Baxter received first, second and third place in Canada, and Paibomesai was second in the North American region.
In the undergraduate category, Kathryn Lefrancois won first and Brittany Buffam third in Canada; second place went to University of Alberta student Erin Loogman. Lefrancios went on to finish third in the North American region.
Worldwide, more than 8,500 students registered for the 2014 competition; each participant submitted a scientific paper or course work based on research in animal health, plant technology, environmental sciences or other biotechnology-related topic.
At U of G, Paibomesai is studying epigenetic control of immune factors and it’s relation to immune phenotypes in dairy cattle. Her PhD is supervised by Prof. Bonnie Mallard in the Department of Pathobiology.
Kayla Price is a PhD student in the Department of Pathobiology, working with Prof. John Barta. She is studying poultry intestinal health, particularly the parasitic disease coccidiosis and environmental influences on a potential vaccine for use in commercial flocks.
Baxter is a master’s student supervised by Prof. Gregoy Bedecarrats in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science. Her paper considered the use of LED bulbs with 60 per cent red light to improve reproduction in egg-laying hens.
Lefrancios is a new U of G graduate in the Bachelor of Bio-Resource Management degree program. She majored in equine management and submitted a paper called “Digital Flexor Tendons: A Comprehensive Review,” that she wrote for a research course taught by Prof. Peter Physick-Sheard, Department of Population Medicine.
Buffam is a recent graduate in the Bachelor of Science program. Her paper was written while she completed a degree major in animal biology and nutrition.
