Cornell University Animal Science

Dan L. Brown   -   Associate Professor

PhD from PhD from Cornell University

 
Graduate fields:      Animal Science, Nutrition, Toxicology
 
Area(s) of interest:      nutritional toxicology, sustainable animal agriculture
 
Teaching:

• Comparative Animal Nutrition and Toxicology – AS 3200
• Animal Agriculture and Society (co-teach) – AS 1160

Professional Organizations:

• American Society of Animal Science 
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Equine Science Society

 
 

Current Research:

 

I. Nutritional Toxicology
Nutritional toxicology includes the study of toxic doses of nutrients, naturally occurring toxicants in food and feedstuffs, the detoxification or transfer of toxicants to the human food chain, and toxicants that affect the metabolism of nutrients. This laboratory has active investigations into both the toxic and potential beneficial effects of the following materials:

1. Nutritional toxicology for animal producers in developing countries:
   Farmers in developing nations will increasingly depend on new varieties of plants to sustain and improve their livestock herds. Many of these new forages defend themselves from pests with natural chemicals that need to be properly managed to ensure the health of the livestock utilizing them. Supported by ILRI, the Cornell Department of Animal Science , Australian Center for International Agriculture and Research (ACIAR), and Conservation, Food and Health Foundation (CFHF).

 

2. Toxicology of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF):
   Shelf-stable RUTF’s have revolutionized the treatment of severely malnourished children and nutritionally compromised HIV-positive individuals in developing countries. This laboratory has
   1. developed procedures to virtually eliminate aflatoxin contamination of local peanuts used in RUTF
   2. established a laboratory to monitor RUTF quality in Haiti and 3) is engaged in the investigation of how nutritional or HIV status might affect the ability of people to detoxify and eliminate ingested aflatoxin. This work has been supported by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies, Meds and Food for Kids, the Cornell Department of Animal Science, and the US-AID Title XII Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program.

II. Sustainable Animal Systems:

Currently, we are engaged in designing multi-species grazing techniques to increase the productivity and decrease the number of invasive plant species in the Finger Lakes National Forest. Supported by the U.S. Forest Service.