My specialization is Applied Animal Behaviour and Welfare of Farm Animals. My research and teaching focus on how various housing and management practices affect the behavioural biology and welfare of farm animals.
Studying the behavioural biology of cattle sheds light on how they see and experience the world, and ultimately offers us insight into their feelings. What drives their behaviour? How do the ways that we interact with them, house them, and manage them, impact their well-being? In our lab, answering these questions are fundamental to ensuring that the animals we farm, in this case cattle, live a good life.
I am engaged in questions of applied landscape ecology in rural and agricultural landscapes, including changes in landscape patterns and the consequences of those changes on biodiversity, water quality, and culture.
My research program studies the effects of agricultural management practices (tillage and cropping systems) on the nature and dynamics of soil organic matter (SOM).
Osteosarcoma is an aggressive bone cancer in dogs and people. My lab investigates the mechanisms that permit osteosarcoma cells to spread to new sites (metastasis) and survive exposure to chemotherapy (chemoresistance). Additionally, we are working on identifying biomarkers that can help predict outcomes and/or guide therapeutic decisions for patients with osteosarcoma.
