The Journal of Dairy Research is first and foremost an authoritative international Journal focused on the dissemination of novel high quality science to researchers involved in the production and utilisation of milk and milk products. Hence, the Journal is also a community of lactation scientists. That community is growing all the time as more researchers become fully aware of the Journal through its contributor website and its publishers, the Cambridge University Press. The Journal has been publishing international quality research for almost 90 years (the best part of a century) but only for the last year has there been an Editorial Board. This Board now numbers eighteen individuals from thirteen countries that span the world and cover all of the major disciplines of the dairy foods chain. We are immensely grateful to the Board for the work they do, and we are delighted to take this opportunity to introduce them to you, in our words and theirs. The first 6 members of our Board are photographed in Figure 1.
Fig. 1. The Editorial Board (A to C).
Sigrid Agenäs is Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Sigrid is an animal scientist and studies management of ruminants and the biology of lactation in whole animal models. Her research spans from mammary cell population dynamics to milking technique and farm management. Current research projects includes the functional microbiota of the mammary gland, the influence that milk fat retained in mammary alveoli has on further milk fat secretion, milking efficiency in quarter level milking, the need for sleep, light and dark in dairy cows and loss of lactose in urine. https://www.slu.se/en/cv/sigrid-agenas/
Andre Almeida is Professor at University of Lisbon, Portugal
Andre uses proteomics and metabolomics in the study of the physiology and pathophysiology of lactating farm animals. He brings a truly international approach to the Journal, having worked in Spain, South Africa, Australia, UK, New Zealand and the West Indies (among others, he tells us!) He has recently returned to a permanent position at the University of Lisbon. Andre claims that his research interests are too broad to classify properly, so we will highlight his recent studies on seasonal weight loss in lactating goats and his major contribution to the Farm Animal Proteomics COST Action http://veterinary.rossu.edu/about/meet-our-faculty-staff/Andre-Martinho-deAlmeida.html
Mario Baratta is Professor at University of Turin, Italy
Mario brings considerable Editorial expertise to the Journal, being involved in a total of ten Editorial Boards!
With a focus on endocrinology, Mario's current research interests include three lactation-related areas: Adult stem cells in the mammary gland of dairy cow, and the role of mammary progenitors in mammary biology. Animal welfare and acute or chronic stress in dairy cow, with a focus on biomarkers and new biosensors. Analysis of xenobiotics with hormonal activity (nutraceuticals) in mammary gland functionality in the dairy cow. Mario is another truly international Editorial Board Member, with experience of working in Germany, USA and Australia in addition to Italy. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mario_Baratta
Christian Burvenich is Professor Emeritus at Ghent University, Belgium
Christian is incredibly well known and respected for his expertise in mastitis pathophysiology and the innate immune response. In 2015 he received the West Agro Award from the American Dairy Science Association for his meritorious scientific contributions, ‘that expanded the focus of mastitis research from purely microbiological to physiological investigations’, so it is particularly gratifying that Christian chooses to commit to Journal of Dairy Research. He is a strong advocate of the hypothesis-driven approach and has developed many animal-based research models, culminating in the now widely accepted view that host physiology is the primary determinant of clinical severity of coliform mastitis rather than the strain of E. coli. Christian also takes a great interest in encouraging and motivating younger scientists, including educating them in more comparative, philosophical and evolutionist aspects of mammary gland biology, a passion that he extends to artistic interpretations of lactation in different species. Christian is a complete lactation enthusiast! https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801000346934
Pietro Celi is a Senior Scientist with DSM Nutritional Products in Maryland, USA
Pietro brings a wide appreciation of academic as well as commercial research to the Journal, with a focus on dairy animal nutrition. His core expertise is the study of the interactions between nutrition, metabolism and the reproduction/lactation cycle in domestic animals with particular interest in the study of oxidative stress biomarkers. Recent research has included investigation of nutritional strategies to improve resilience against heat stress in livestock. Pietro comments: ‘Acting as referee and editorial board member in peer reviewed journals acknowledges my contribution to the scientific community. The scientific society's memberships are providing an excellent meeting ground to discuss research projects and to establish collaborations with the scientific and the rural community. I have also been able to engage with the relevant livestock industries that are the main focus of my teaching and research activities’. Now based in the USA, Pietro was educated in Italy and worked for many years in Australia where he gained a deep understanding of Asian agriculture. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pietro_Celi
Jayani Chandrapala is Lecturer at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Jayani Chandrapala obtained a BSc (Honours) in Chemistry from College of Chemical Sciences in Sri-Lanka, an MSc (Prelim) and a PhD in Food Chemistry both from Monash University. After obtaining her PhD, she has worked at CSIRO, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne and Victoria University. Jayani's areas of expertise lies mainly on the physical chemistry aspects of dairy science and technology specializing on dairy property characterizations, protein conformational changes, mineral speciation, interactions of dairy components, various functionalities of dairy systems (heat stability, emulsification, gelation etc.), membrane processing (MF, UF, NF), non-thermal technologies (Ultrasound/High pressure processing) and encapsulation. Jayani places great emphasis on using sustainable environmental technologies towards zero discharge dairy facilities. http://www.rmit.edu.au/contact/staff-contacts/academic-staff/c/chandrapala-dr-jayani
The next 6 members of our Board are in Figure 2.
Fig. 2. The Editorial Board (D to Km.)
George C. Fthenakis is Professor and the Dean of Veterinary Faculty at University of Thessaly, Greece
George is a Fellow of the Agricultural Academy of Greece and a former President of the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management. His veterinary background is complemented by an impressive collection of academic awards, honours and research grants, including a recent ‘Omics study of indigenous Greek dairy goat and sheep breeds’. He regularly advises the Greek Government and various European bodies on matters of animal health and food safety. George is focusing his research interests in health management, diseases and welfare of small ruminants and places special emphasis in works related to dairy production. http://ebvs.eu/colleges/ECSRHM/members/dr-george-c-fthenakis
Mansel Griffiths is Adjunct Professor at University of Guelph, Canada
Mansel is a member of our Executive Editorial Team, taking responsibility for post farm-gate aspects of the dairy foods chain. Hailing from Wales and still a devout supporter of Swansea City FC, Mansel was the Founding Director of the Canadian Research Institute for Food Safety & the Food Safety & Quality Assurance graduate program at the University of Guelph. Previously he was a Principal Scientist at the Hannah Research Institute in Ayr, Scotland and he is acknowledged as one of the foremost international experts in the field of dairy microbiology. In 2006 he was appointed Visiting Professor at Jinan University, China and has been a Visiting Fellow at ESR, New Zealand, the University of Sassari, Italy and was an EU Fellow of the Erasmus Mundus MSc Food of Life program. His research interests include rapid detection of foodborne pathogens; factors controlling growth and survival of microorganisms in foods; and beneficial uses of microorganisms. Dr Griffiths has authored more than 350 peer-reviewed publications and has appeared on ISI HighlyCited.com. He has edited four books, including ‘Improving the Safety and Quality of Milk’, which was published in 2010. In 2016 he was made a Fellow of the International Academy of Food Science and Technology. He retired from the University of Guelph in 2015 and since has continued to wonder how he ever found the time to go to work. https://www.uoguelph.ca/foodscience/users/mansel-griffiths
Eric Hillerton is Adjunct Professor at Massey University, New Zealand
Eric Hillerton retired from the role of Chief Scientist at DairyNZ Ltd in 2014. Speaking of that time, Eric comments: ‘one of the most rewarding parts of being a scientist with DairyNZ was the direct involvement with dairy farmers, understanding the real problems on farms and helping develop solutions and new technologies’. Thus Eric brings a real understanding of the production industry needs to his role as the second member of the Executive Editorial Team here at JDR. He was previously a Principal Scientist at the Institute for Animal Health in the UK where he led several teams including contract research for the animal health industry. He is an Adjunct Professor in Dairy Systems at Massey University and a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society. https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-hillerton-7584769
Rodrigo J Pereira is Professor at Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso, Brazil
Rodrigo brings genetics expertise to JDR, combined with specialist knowledge of the rapidly expanding Brazilian dairy sector. http://gmatufmt.wixsite.com/gmat
Kenneth Kalscheur is Research Animal Scientist at USDA-ARS, Madison, USA
Ken has a dairy farming background, first on the Wisconsin family farm and later working in the Netherlands and Ireland. Having chosen a scientific career Ken studied for his PhD at University of Maryland and then worked at South Dakota, becoming full Professor in 2014. He has been Visiting Professor in Korea and Germany, and since 2014 has pursued his forage-based research at U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison. Ken describes his current research interests as: Utilisation of forage-based diets and byproduct feedstuffs for growing dairy heifer and lactating cow diets, including effects of diet and feed formulation on ruminal fermentation and metabolism, nutrient utilisation and excretion, and milk production and composition. https://www.ars.usda.gov/people-locations/person?person-id=49916
Kieran Kilcawley is Principal Research Officer at Teagasc Moorepark, Ireland
Kieran is a flavour expert! He joined Teagasc in 1996 and is responsible for three core areas of research; flavour chemistry, cheese biochemistry and fermentation. Kieran was previously employed as a research scientist at Imperial Biotechnology Ltd, London, UK between 1990 and 1996, where he was primarily involved in research into flavour. The main focus of his research continues to be directly related to flavour in foods and beverages with a major focus on cheese. Kieran works extensively with industry both nationally and internationally in the area of cheese flavour development, aroma profiling, identification of taints/off-odours, chemical contaminants, lipid oxidation and in the analysis of free fatty acids in dairy foods. In his own words: ‘Most of my experience is directly related to biochemistry and enzymology of foods with a particular emphasis on cheese. A main focus involves harnessing and exploiting the natural enzymatic and metabolic activities of lactic acid bacteria and yeasts in the development of cheese flavour. I manage a state of the art flavour chemistry facility at Teagasc Moorepark which is specifically designed to concentrate, elucidate and quantify key aromatic compounds in food and beverages.’ https://www.teagasc.ie/contact/staff-directory/k/kieran-kilcawley/
The final 6 members of our Board are in Figure 3.
Fig. 3. The Editorial Board (Kn to Z).
Chris Knight is Professor Emeritus at University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Chris took over as Editor in Chief of JDR in 2015. He grew up on a dairy farm and studied at Nottingham and Cambridge before joining the Hannah Research Institute as a lactation scientist, where he conceived and developed the concept of extended lactation as a welfare-friendly alternative to annual lactation cycles. His second career in Copenhagen involved teaching combined with numerous European collaborative research projects, including Chairing DairyCare, the COST Action in dairy wellbeing technology. Now back in Scotland, Chris is continuing his passion for lactation in his third career as a self-employed research consultant focused on scientific communication. www.foodanimalbiosciences.org
Åse Lundh is Professor at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden
Åse is a food scientist with special interest in applied dairy technology research. She describes her research areas thus: ‘My research interests lie within the area of animal foods, specifically raw milk quality (composition, microbiology, properties) as influenced by factors in the production on the farm as well as the impact of the raw milk quality on the final quality of the dairy products. Mainly applied research in collaboration with dairy industry, advisors and milk producers’. https://www.slu.se/en/departments/molecular-sciences/research-groups/the-ase-lundh-lab/
Golfo Moatsou is Assistant Professor at the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Golfo is a dairy technologist with extensive knowledge of different dairy products produced form the milks of various species. Her specific interests include analytical methods, effect of processing on the composition and the biochemical characteristics of milk and dairy products (proteins, enzymes), indices of heat treatment, functional properties of yoghurt, cheese ripening, differentiation of milk from different species, casein genotypes. She has an impressive teaching and publication record and has edited definitive textbooks and book chapters both in Greek and English, as well as presenting numerous papers at international scientific conferences. Her latest research project is ‘Implementation of innovative technologies in the production of yogurt with enhanced biofunctional properties’ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Golfo_Moatsou
Manuela Renna is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Torino, Italy
Manuela is an animal scientist with expertise in animal nutrition and she is involved in two international Editorial Boards. She has research experience with many European terrestrial and aquatic farmed species. Regarding ruminants, her main research activities focus on the nutritional manipulation of fatty acids in dairy and meat products, behavior and welfare, and the safeguard of animal and animal-derived food products biodiversity. Current research on ruminant species focuses on the use of agro-industrial by-products and their effects on animal performance and derived food products quality. Manuela really likes statistics!And now the important news: Manuela is expecting her second baby in about 1 month's time, a sister for Alice. Congratulations Manuela! https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Manuela_Renna
Jordi Saldo Periago is Associate Professor at Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain
Jordi's food science expertises focus on novel processing and packaging technologies for a variety of foods including dairy products. He established a state of the art pilot plant at UAB and has been involved in many research and teaching projects, including the Erasmus Mundus education, Food of Life. Jordi is a passionate Catalonian and enjoys family life and travelling. His is the only photograph that includes a glass, and it is not milk! http://www.uab.cat/web/el-departament/personal-academic/BlobServer?blobtable=Document&blobcol=urldocument&blobheader=application/pdf&blobkey=id&blobwhere=1284632267841&blobnocache=true
Eleni Tsiplakou is Assistant Professor in the Agricultural University of Athens, Greece
Eleni is a leading player in the European Association of Animal Production, being secretary of the Nutrition Commission. She describes her research interest in this way: ‘Thorough involvement in the experimental design of projects related to nutrition mainly of ruminants, but also of other animal species. These projects aimed to study the effects of different dietary treatments on the production (yield) and quality quaracteristics (fatty acids profile) of animal origin products (milk and meat), on mammary gland gene expression (lipolytic, lipogenic, antioxidant etc), on rumen microbial population and on milk and plasma enzyme activities (antioxidant etc). For those projects modern analytical techniques were used such as: Gas Chromatography (GC), Molecular techniques for RNA and DNA extraction and Photometer Assays for enzymes activity determination in various biological samples such as milk, blood and rumen liquid. Further to the above analytical techniques I have also been involved in mycotoxin determination and other toxic compounds such as pesticides in milk by using LC-MS/MS. Finally, I have been also involved in projects concerning the Livestock Farming Systems in Greece.’ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Eleni_Tsiplakou
This concludes our introduction to the Editorial Board. Thank you for reading, and thank you for being part of the Journal of Dairy Research Community. If you would like to help that community by becoming part of the Editorial Board and you believe that you have something unique, important and relevant to offer, you are welcome to send us a short cv that includes a paragraph describing your research interests. You can find more details on our contributor website, www.journalofdairyresearch.org
