This $500,000 project grant from the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA NIFA) supports research under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive federal grants program (AFRI; CFDA #10.310). The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University will characterize differences in early embryonic development and uterine environments between cattle breeds that are more resilient to undernutrition and less prone to pregnancy loss,...
The Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded a $120,000 Project Grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program to Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University from July 2021 through June 2023. The grant funds research to investigate embryonic losses occurring during blastocyst hatching and embryo elongation in cattle, which can significantly impact the cattle industry. The principal investigator will...
The University of Nebraska was awarded a $225,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program to conduct research aimed at improving the quality and development of in vitro produced (IVP) embryos for beef and dairy cattle. The goal is to understand how oxidative stress during oocyte culture impacts gene regulation and developmental competence of IVP embryos. The researchers will perform culture of oocytes under...
This $500,000 project grant from the Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program will develop new selection tools to improve male fertility in beef cattle. Awarded to Kansas State University on May 1, 2021 for a five-year period concluding on April 30, 2026, the grant will result in prototype tools utilizing conception data, semen quality metrics, and breeding soundness examination results on beef bulls....
This $300,000 Project Grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, awarded to Utah State University (USU) on July 1, 2024, aims to improve the efficiency of cattle cloning by studying the impact of increased polyadenylation (adding stabilizing tails to genetic messages) on egg quality and embryo development. The research hypothesis is that enhancing polyadenylation will lead to higher quality eggs, thereby...
This $650,000 Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Project Grant, awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (CFDA 10.310), aims to improve the reproductive success of high-producing dairy cows. The research project has two main objectives: 1) understanding the nutritional needs of dairy cow embryos, particularly differences between lactating cows and younger heifers, in order to identify ways to better support embryo development; and 2) examining how oxygen and...
This $650,000 Project Grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, will fund research under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative competitive grants program. The awardee, the Agricultural Research Service located in Fort Collins, Colorado, will develop techniques using strategically-coated magnetic nano-particles to remove defective spermatozoa from bull semen. Field studies will then evaluate the reproductive potential of the...
The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) was awarded a $1,750,000 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program. The grant, awarded on September 1, 2023, with a completion date of August 31, 2027, will support research to understand the metabolic pathways and mitochondrial dynamics activated during ovulation and luteinization in beef cattle. The goals of the...
Through a $120,000 Project Grant awarded by the Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (CFDA 10.310) program, Colorado State University is conducting research to determine the metabolic function of the enzyme phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) and its ability to promote embryo development in bovine in vitro fertilization (IVF) systems. The research aims to elucidate PEPCK's role in sustaining embryo...
This $650,000 Project Grant was awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program on July 1, 2024. The grant aims to characterize placental cell types in the maternal endometrium during early stages of development in cattle, using cutting-edge techniques. The long-term goals are to understand how the placenta develops, how it interacts with the uterus, and what cells and molecules are involved in the process. A...