Introducing our invited speakers for APSS 2025:
Born and raised in Birkenhead, UK, Mike completed a Bachelors Degree at Nottingham University in Animal nutrition, physiology, nutrition and production (1978-81). After meeting with John Summers there, he went on to do a Masters at the University of Guelph, Canada, in Poultry amino acid nutrition with Prof John D. Summers as supervisor (1981-1984).
Mike then completed his PhD at the University of Guelph (1984-1988) on Interaction of nutrition with poultry polyamine biochemistry, with Profs Trevor K. Smith and John Summers as supervisors. Post-Docs at McGill (Montreal, 1988-1989, D Zadworny) and Saskatchewan (1989-1991, Hank Classen) in molecular biology and enzymes in poultry nutrition respectively. Since then he has worked in the industry on feed enzymes principally at Finnfeeds International (1991-2001), Zymetrics (2001- 2007) and finally AB Vista (2007-present) where he has been the Director of Research for almost 20 years.
Mike has produced over 350 publications including more than 250 full refereed journal articles, principally in the field of feed enzymes, more than 30 popular press articles and 6 book chapters. He has also published 3 books including 3 editions of “Enzymes in Farm Animal Nutrition”.
Dr. Kogut is a Research Microbiologist and Lead Scientist at the Southern Plains Agricultural Research Center, College Station, TX. He has published over 220 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 20 book chapters, and has received 5 patents.
Dr. Kogut’s research has concentrated on the development of cost-effective immunological interventions to improve gut health of poultry by studying the role of the microbiota in immunity to infection; the role of dietary metabolites in promoting immune regulation and immune responses to enteric bacterial pathogens; characterizing novel molecular targets that mediate the actions of dietary compounds in gut inflammation and immunity; and understanding the integration of central metabolic pathways and nutrient sensing with antimicrobial immunity.
Dr. Kogut is a PSA Fellow and is the current Editor-in-Chief of Poultry Science.
Associate Professor Sonia Liu is a poultry nutritionist from the University of Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on reduced protein diets, digestive dynamics of nutrients, amino acid nutrition in layers and broilers and feed grain quality. Sonia has more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications. She is the recipient of 2015 Australian Department of Agriculture, Science and Innovation Award for Young People, 2018 The Australia Awards – Endeavour Research Fellowship and 2019 Australia Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.
Recently, Dr Sonia Liu who has won the ARC Early Career Industry Fellowship. This is on top of the ARC Linkage Project she secured earlier this year worth over a million dollars to examine the use of reduced protein diets in poultry production.
You can read all about these grants in the latest Poultry@Sydney Newsletter.
Professor Walter Bottje received his PhD at the University of Illinois and was hired in 1985 in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Arkansas. He served as Head and Director for the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science (2002-2008). Starting in 2001, his research focused primarily on understanding the cellular basis of feed efficiency. He currently serves as Project Director of a USDA NIFA SAS (Sustainable Agriculture System) grant (#2019-69012-29905), Empowering the US Broiler Industry for Transformation and Sustainability. This is a multi-institutional comprehensive grant that includes research, teaching, and extension activities with a major focus on water use efficiency to help meet challenges facing the poultry industry in an increasingly hot, crowded, and hungry world.
DVM from National University of Colombia. College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science.
Master of Science in Animal Health and Production. National University of Colombia College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science.
Doctor of Veterinary Sciences. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Porto Alegre, Brazil. College of Veterinary Medicine
American College of Poultry Veterinarians -ACPV, Diplomate.
SPECIAL TRAINING:
University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center (PDRC). Training in Avian Virology and Histopathology.
Visiting Scientist. United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Egg Safety and Quality Research Unit; (USDA-ARS-ESQRU).
Short Term Scholar. Mississippi State University. Poultry Research and Diagnostic Laboratory.
Frank is a Senior Research Scientist with the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness International Program, where serves as the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) reference laboratory expert for avian influenza. He currently chairs the Executive Committee of the WOAH-FAO Network of Expertise on Animal Influenza (or OFFLU) and the OFFLU Avian Influenza Technical Working Group. He represents OFFLU on WOAH/FAO/WHO tripartite activities on pandemic influenza preparedness and surveillance. At ACDP, Frank serves as the science lead for regional animal health laboratory capacity building and EID surveillance projects at the wildlife interface with Southeast Asian countries. He also contributes to ACDP’s national emergency animal disease response activities that advise state and federal government agencies on animal influenza outbreaks in Australia. His research interests include molecular epidemiologic surveillance of emergency transboundary animal diseases, viral pathogen phylodynamics, and the development of sustainable viromics-based surveillance approaches that could contribute to emergency infectious disease preparedness in the Asia-Pacific region.
An expert in poultry nutrition and production, Steve Leeson, Ph.D., is a consultant Professor Emeritus at the Ontario University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. As a researcher, his primary areas of study included the potential for manipulation of eggs and poultry meat as it impacts human health.
He previously worked on incorporating omega-3 and other polyunsaturates into eggs and studied the transfer efficiency of lutein into eggs. Lutein is known to sustain eye health in humans, and Dr. Leeson affirms eggs will likely become a major dietary source of this nutraceutical. His other research projects involve the use of medium-chain triglycerides
to impact gut health in the absence of antibiotic growth promoters.
He has published over 340 papers in referred journals and made over 1,000 presentations at scientific and industry meetings. He’s published eight books on poultry nutrition and management including as co-author of the book, “Commercial Poultry Nutrition.”
He served as a professor at the University of Guelph from 1974-2001 and chair of the Department of Animal and Poultry Science there from 2005-2010. He earned his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of
Nottingham (U.K.).
Dr. Pairat Srichana started his career in Feed Technical Service at Feed Technology of Charoen Pokphand Group Co., Ltd. In 2002, He was offered a university scholarship in the field of Animal Nutrition. He received his doctoral degree in 2006. After received PhD in Animal Science Nutrition from University of Missouri-Columbia, USA, he was appointed as the chair of Feed Research and Innovation Center at CPF (Thailand) PCL.
Dr. Pairat has over 30+ years of experience in feed research and animal nutrition. As a head of animal feed R&D, He was in charged of experimental data, statistic analysis, feed formulation, feed management, feedstuff quality and dietary supplement evaluation. That enables Dr.Pairat has an in-dept understanding of animal feed.
In this role,Dr. Pairat is also invited as a special instructor. He currently teaches introductory animal nutrition courses at undergraduate level and is a co-instructor for a graduate level course.
Academic qualification, name of institution issuing the degree, year of graduation:
1988: M.Sc. (Biology) (cand.scient.), Aarhus University
1995: Ph.D. (Poultry science), The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark
Employment at Aarhus University, Department for Animal and Veterinary Sciences as Senior Researcher.
Project manager and participant in many research projects dealing with different topics related to Poultry nutrition, physiology and production in both conventional and organic production:
Feedings strategies for broilers and allometric measures. Nutritive value of feed ingredients for broilers and effect of fibres on intestinal viscosity, passage rate and nutrient digestibility; Phosphorus and calcium levels in broiler and layers diets and strategic allocation of calcium and the effect on performance, retention and leg health; Feedings strategies related to 100% organic feeding for layers, nutritive values of alternative feed ingredients as silages, and alternative protein sources as mussels, starfish and grass protein concentrates; Feeding strategies in organic broilers and effect on foraging behavior. Nutrition of dual-purpose genotypes and differences in production, behaviour and welfare for both males and females in free-range systems.
Teaching: at several BSc and MSc courses. Experience as supervisor for BSc, MSc, PhD students. Participate as member of scientific/examination committees in relation to Ph.D. defences at the Agricultural University in Wageningen, the Netherlands, the Agricultural University in Uppsala, Sweden and Helsinki University, Finland, Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Aas, Norway.
Involved in Danish Governmental counselling related to production, management, nutrition and welfare issues in organic layers and broilers.
Scientific committee activities: in relation to European poultry conferences and European Poultry Symposia participated in the planning of the scientific program, review of papers and chairperson obligations. Chairperson for working group 2 (Poultry Nutrition) under WPSA (World´s Poultry Science Association) since 2009. Member of the National Poultry Levy Foundation since 2015.
Vitor Arantes is an experienced poultry nutritionist and technical services expert with over 15 years in the field. As the Global Technical Services Manager and Global Nutritionist at Hy-Line International, Vitor leads technical support initiatives for customers worldwide. He oversees the nutrition of Pure Lines and Grandparent breeding flocks in Iowa, ensuring optimal performance through tailored nutritional strategies. Additionally, he plays a crucial role in managing Hy-Line’s breeder and commercial databases, as well as contributing to the final review of technical literature and management guides.
Before joining Hy-Line International, Vitor served as Technical Services Director at Hy-Line Brasil, where he was responsible for managing product performance, customer support, and breeder nutrition. His expertise also includes overseeing the development of technical resources and providing training to distributors and clients. Vitor’s early career involved working as a technical manager at a commercial egg production farm and later as the technical leader of the laying hen division at a Brazilian premix company. There, he created and standardized nutritional matrices, supporting the sales and management of commercial layer flocks.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Animal Science, an MBA in Industrial Poultry, and an MBA in Business Management. Vitor’s diverse expertise in poultry nutrition, technical management, and global service positions him as a key contributor to the success of Hy-Line and its customers.
Peter completed his Bachelor of Science in South Africa under Professor Rob Gous in 1982 and completed his PhD at the University of Sydney in 2022 with Dr Sonia Liu and Dr Peter Selle, investigating reduced protein diets in broiler chickens. Peter has extensive commercial experience in both monogastric feeds and vitamin and trace mineral premix manufacture and has worked as a nutritionist for the largest poultry integrators in South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.
Peter is currently a Senior Poultry Nutrition Specialist with Aviagen. He has presented at a number of conferences around the globe and been both author and co-author of over 60 peer-reviewed publications.
