Swine Nutrition Blackbelt #6: What is this fungus that may help promote gut health in pigs? with Dr. Katie Summers

Weaning is arguably the most important transition in a pigs life, and is associated with poor growth, increased incidence of infection, and increased stress. Due to this, researchers are continuously looking for potential ways to modify the pig’s diet to increase gut health and immunity. In this episode, Dr. Katie Summers shares some of her work with the USDA, in which they identified and isolated a fungus from the pig’s gut, Kazachstania slooffiae, which may prove beneficial as a feed additive for producers worldwide.

Meet the guest: Dr. Katie Summers is a Research Microbiologist at the USDA in Beltsville, MD. She earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Michigan followed by postdoctoral fellowships at Yale University (Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology) and the University of Michigan Medical School (Infectious Disease) prior to visiting positions at the University of Kansas (Molecular Biosciences) and Miami of Ohio (Microbiology). Since 2017, Dr. Summers has worked at the Animal Biosciences and Biotechnology Laboratory (ABBL) at the USDA where her research is focused on understanding the role of the microbiome and metabolome in piglet growth during the critical weaning transition.