Assistant Professor

Animal Behavior and Well-Being

Post-Doctoral and Graduate Students

Aaron S. Kiess
Post Doctoral Fellow

Ph.D.: 2006, West Virginia University; Major: Genetics and Developmental Biology
M.S.: 2001, West Virginia University; Major: Animal and Veterinary Science
B.S.: 1999, West Virginia University; Major: Animal and Veterinary Science

Currently, my role in the Garner lab is to collect and analyze data for an epidemiology study that is evaluating cage design, feeder space, productivity, body weight uniformity and welfare in laying hens. Very little research is available to producers on how cage design and feeder space effect productivity and welfare of laying hens. The results of this study may allow producers to adjust current management practices to increase productivity and maintain a high standard of animal welfare/well-being. I am also interested in microbial pathogenicity and its effect on human health and well-being. Through molecular and microbial techniques I would like to explore the mechanisms by which pathogenic bacteria from poultry and swine are able to colonize the gastrointestinal tract and attack the immune system of human beings. The impact of this research has the potential to reduce the number of food-borne outbreaks and contribute to methods that can be used for treatment if an outbreak occurs.

Brett Dufour
M.S. Program

My research is focused on gaining a better understanding of the development and potential treatment of abnormal repetitive behavior (ARB) in laboratory mice. In mice, ARB includes such behaviors as barbering, where mice pluck idiosyncratic patterns of hair from their cagemates and sometimes from themselves; and stereotypy which is a class of behaviors that are defined as repetitive, invariant, and seemingly functionless. For my thesis project, I have been investigating the role of nutrition in the development and persistence of hair plucking (barbering) behavior in the C57BL/6J strain of laboratory mice. The rationale behind the project is that the brain serotonin system is uniquely sensitive to diet and that alterations in the brain serotonin system has been shown to play a role in the pathophysiology of various human psychiatric disorders (i.e. obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression) that may be neurobiologically related to barbering; also, serotonergic drugs are the most efficacious pharmacotherapy of human OCD, and have shown some efficacy in the treatment of human hair plucking behavior (trichotillomania). Thus, my thesis project is aimed at deteriming the adequacy of mouse diets to support the function of the serotonergic system, and if this system’s sensitivity to diet bears any relevance to the development, persistence, and/or amelioration of barbering behavior.

Brianna Gaskill
M.S. Program

My research involves animal behavior and welfare in laboratory rodents. Mice are commonly housed in 20-24°C which is a comfortable temperature for a human being wearing scrubs and a lab coat, but may actually be very cold for a mouse. My research looks into what temperatures mice prefer to spend their time in throughout the day when given the choice. This will help determine if the mice are chronically cold stressed, which may impact their welfare in typical laboratory environments. A second area of my research is developing new and improved types of cognitive testing for mice that are used in psychiatric and neuroscience research. The development of more reliable and more relevant tests would reduce the number of mice needed and improve the quality of scientific results.

Collette Thogerson
M.S. Program

Feeder space for laying hens is critical to well-being, because if feeder space per hen is too low then competition at the feeder may disrupt feeding and induce aggression, ultimately leading to poor welfare, reduced productivity and even mortality. Identifying optimum feeder space per hen is an extremely high priority for the egg industry at the present time. Therefore, my research is examining a range of variables of importance to production (e.g. feed conversion, egg production, mortality, and body weight uniformity) and health and/or welfare (e.g. behavior, bone mineral density, feather condition, weight gain, stress measures, mortality), with the overall goal of determining the amount of feeder space needed per White Leghorn hen to allow for optimum welfare and productivity.

My other research interests include: abnormal behavior in captive animals, how abnormal behavior affects the well-being of captive animals, and human-animal bonds.

Stacey Enneking
M.S. Program

US Poultry has indicated that early poult mortality is a leading research priority for turkeys. Roughly one-third of early mortalities are due to starve-out, or failure of a poult to eat; which is both an economic and animal wellbeing concern. In nature, hens direct poults to feed via feeding calls and non-feeding pecking behaviors. In production environments, however, these maternal stimuli are absent. My research is focused on developing an economical solution for starve-out based on these maternal stimuli. This would enhance the welfare of the animals as well as benefit producers by decreasing production losses. Past research in chickens has used visual or auditory stimuli to attract chicks to feed, however, very little has been done in turkeys. This project will implement both auditory and visual stimuli to test the hypothesis that the maternal call attracts the attention of the poults, and the hen's pecking movements then direct the poults to proper feed.