Gary Kazmer

Dr. Kazmer received his Bachelor's degree in French and Master's degree in Dairy Science from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina (Hi all y'all Tiger fans!). Then off to the the Blue Ridge mountains, where he received his Ph.D. in Animal Physiology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (well, that was the name when I was there...now its lovingly called Va-Giiin-Ya-Tek) in Blacksburg, VA. His first academic appointment was at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, NM. Unfortunately, the stay was rather brief, as the President of that Land-Grant University (I think his name was Hooligan) sold the dairy herd right out from underneath the Animal Science Department! Evidently some people think agriculture and academia don't mix...a sad day. Undaunted by such politics, Dr. Kazmer then took his present position at UConn.

I am interested in exploring the grey area between genetics and physiology. Specifically, which genes regulate genetic superiority for milk production traits, what physiological systems mediate this genetic influence and what are the possibilities for controlling these mechanisms to increase efficiency in production. My training has been almost entirely from the physiology end, but I have begun, mainly through my graduate students, to learn about the genomic side of the equation. The explosion of information about the mammalian genome, begun mainly from a medical perspective, has now begun to invade all segments of food production, both plant and animal. Understanding the genome, its influence on phenotype and how it may be manipulated will become in the very near future, IMHO, a major research interest for virtually all animal scientists.