Lallemand Animal Nutrition is pleased to announce that Dr Faisury Ossa, a microbiologist with research experience in ruminal digestive tract microbial diversity with the aim of improving animal nutrition has joined the Lallemand North American Ruminant Research Center in Montreal, Canada. Together with European-based facilities, these labs form the company's Ruminant Center of Excellence, dedicated to advances in rumen function and ruminant nutrition and health.
Prior to joining Lallemand, Dr Ossa worked for the Colombian Agricultural Research Corporation (Corpoica) in Bogota, where she gained considerable experience in managing projects for improved and sustainable animal production. During the last year, she held a scientific research position at Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. Dr. Ossa holds an MSc in Microbiology from the prestigious University Pontificia Javeriana in Bogota (Colombia) and a PhD in the same field from Syracuse University (New York). With her specialized work experience, Dr. Ossa will be an important asset to the company's strategic ruminant research in Montreal.
Lallemand Ruminant Center of Excellence: two complementary poles
Lallemand ruminant research and development expertise is shared between two complementary poles, strategically located in North America and Europe to form Lallemand Ruminant Center of Excellence.
Lallemand Ruminant Center of Excellence is recognized for its research into ruminant nutrition and the ecology of the rumen, each year generating scientific articles and presentations at fundamental ruminant nutrition and gut microbial ecology congresses. Its main focuses are to:
- Continuously documenting the biology, modes of action, health effects and zootechnical benefits of existing yeast and bacteria strains (e.g.: to date, more than 60 peer-reviewed papers have been published concerning the sole yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae I-1077),
- Searching for the microbial solutions and applications of tomorrow to support sustainable animal production, from farm-to fork.
Its work is supported and validated in the field through a strong worldwide network of research partners from universities, public and private research centers and institutes, as well as application schools, private companies and farms.
North America ruminant research laboratory is part of the Biotechnology Research Institute (BRI), in Montreal, Canada, a government-owned scientific complex. Its main research area are the screening and selection of microbial strains and the understanding of their modes of action and interactions within the rumen, forage, and others ecosystems, combining both classical microbiology (cultivation, enumeration, in vitro fermentation-DAISY fermentors-, biochemical assays) and state-of-the-art molecular techniques (DNA fingerprinting, real time quantitative PCR,...).
The European ruminant research team works in partnership with INRA, the French Institute for Agronomic Research, Europe's largest agricultural research organization, in Clermont-Ferrand.
The team is led by Dr Frédérique Chaucheyras-Durand, PhD in Microbiology and expert in rumen ecosystems. Its research programs cover all aspects of the rumen microbiota, from its establishment (colonization in neonates), its evolution, down to its function and internal or external interactions (with the feedstuffs or exogenous microbes, either beneficial or pathogenic)... and their implications on animal health, performance and welfare (e.g. fibre degradation, pH stabilization, hydrogen and ammonia utilization etc.). This is possible thanks to a wide range of techniques, from microbiology (anaerobic cultures...) and high-tech molecular techniques (TTGE, RISA, FISH, microarrays, proteomics...) to in vivo animal models.