Research Interests
- Systems biology; molecular nutrition; genomics; metabolomics; bioinformatics; nutritional programming of adipose tissue; mammary gland development; lipid metabolism; conjugated linoleic acids (CLA); nutritional and physiological genomics; comparative genomics; regulation of milk fat and protein synthesis; nutritional regulation of muscle development.My research program focuses on the study of how nutrition, physiological state and their interaction affect tissue function and metabolic adaptations through alterations in the transcriptome, i.e. mRNA expression profiles. We rely heavily on cutting-edge technologies such as microarrays, DNA sequencing, quantitative RT-PCR, and bioinformatics to generate biologically-meaningful data. The integration of these data sets is at the core of our Systems Biology efforts in Nutritional Sciences. We use large animals as primary models but also perform more fundamental studies with animal tissue cell lines or explant cultures. Through the use of high-throughput techniques and bioinformatics we intend to identify genes that might be associated with susceptibility to immune and metabolic diseases (e.g. hepatic steatosis, mastitis) and also to developing obesity.
Education
- Ph.D., 2001, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
- M.S., 1997, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
- B.S., 1995, University of California, Davis
Additional Campus Affiliations
Professor, Animal Sciences
Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Recent Publications
Chen, M., Wang, L., Lei, L., Du, X., Loor, J. J., Mei, S., Li, C., Yang, Y., Gao, W., Song, Y., Li, X., Liu, G., & Fang, Z. (2025). The hepatic expression status of hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α in subclinical and clinical ketotic dairy cows and its impact on lipid metabolism in hepatocytes. Journal of Dairy Science, 108(9), 9984-9997. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2025-26548
Dong, Y., Gao, W., Liu, K., Lin, C., Usman, M., Loor, J. J., Li, G., Cao, L., Yang, Z., Luo, J., Li, D., Sun, Q., Lei, L., Du, X., Song, Y., Liu, G., & Li, X. (2025). Cullin 3 mitigates nonesterified fatty acid–induced oxidative stress in mammary epithelial cells: Involvement of BCL2/BECN1 and autophagy. Journal of Dairy Science, 108(4), 4163-4179. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2024-25879
Fan, Y., Ma, L., Xu, X., Fang, X., Mauck, J., Loor, J. J., Sun, X., Jia, H., Xu, C., & Xu, Q. (2025). Heat shock protein B1-mediated ferroptosis regulates mitochondrial dysfunction in adipose tissue of ketotic dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science, 108(7), 7815-7836. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2025-26265
Hu, Q., Wang, X., Luo, J., Mu, Y., Yang, M., Usman, M., Loor, J. J., Wang, P., & Gong, P. (2025). Effects of starter diets with different neutral detergent fiber levels on gastrointestinal tract development, microbial profiles, nutrient digestibility, and growth performance in Xinong Saanen dairy goat kids. Journal of animal science, 103, Article skaf226. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf226
Huo, Y., Shen, T., Feng, T., Li, M., Zhao, W., Loor, J. J., Aernouts, B., Psifidi, A., & Xu, C. (2025). β-Hydroxybutyrate-induced mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) release mediated innate inflammatory response in bovine mammary epithelial cells by inhibiting autophagy. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, 16(1), Article 15. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40104-024-01143-z