Heat Stress, Combating Embryonic Loss, and Tips for Running a Lab That Sparks the Principles—and Passion—for Lifelong Scientific Discovery

We’re kicking off the new year—and our new season of Dairy Digressions—with a special guest, Pete Hansen, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Animal Sciences and L. E. “Red” Larson Professor at the University of Florida. Pete’s research focuses on embryo physiology and developing new management strategies for increasing dairy cattle fertility, particularly in the face of heat stress and a warming climate. A leader in embryology and early embryonic loss, Pete explains when embryos are most sensitive to heat stress and why—including the scientific tools we have for preventing these effects—from genetic selection to embryo transfer to management for cow health and the potential future of artificial embryos from stem cells. A longtime mentor to undergraduate and graduate students (don’t miss his paper on the topic!), Pete also lets listeners in on his teaching philosophy and shares tips for crafting a lab environment that fosters collaboration, hard work, and joy around science. Episode Eleven Show Notes Learn more about Pete Hansen’s work at the University of Florida, and connect with him on LinkedIn and X/Twitter. Are you interested in learning more about the journal loyalty program mentioned in the episode? Get all the details, and sign up today! Catch up on the papers and the news article discussed on the episode: Reflections on a career as a graduate mentor—from baby steps at Wisconsin to today, Journal of Animal Science (2023) Stem cells used to model a two-week-old human embryo, Nature News and Views (2023) Complete human day 14 post-implantation embryo models from naive ES cells, Nature (2023) Pluripotent stem cell-derived model of the post-implantation human embryo, Nature (2023)