Make Mine Metagenomics: International collaboration to explore the milk microbiome in dairy cattle
Prof. Ruth Zadoks (IBAHCM), Prof. Satu Pyörälä (University of Helsinki, Finland), Dr. Piret Kalmus (Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonia) and Mr. Manikhandan Mudaliar (Glasgow Polyomics)
Milk contains lots of healthy nutrients and also a lot of microbes, many of which were unknown until very recently because we cannot grow them on standard culture media. Using next generation sequencing technology, we will explore the 16S microbiome of milk to see which bacteria make the difference between healthy and unhealthy udders. This will give us a better understanding of how to study, treat and prevent diseases that affect milk production and milk quality.