Rate My Professor Jeremy Cottrell

Associate Professor Jeremy Cottrell serves in the School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences at the University of Melbourne, where he holds the position of Associate Professor in Dairy and Livestock Science and acts as Senior Lecturer in Livestock Science within the Animal and Meat Science research group. He earned his PhD and joined the University of Melbourne in 2014 as a Research Fellow in the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, advancing to his current associate professorship. Prior to academia, Cottrell worked as a Senior Researcher at the Department of Environment and Primary Industries from 2011 to 2013 and at Phosphagenics Ltd from 2006 to 2011. His career emphasizes translational research bridging physiology and animal production.

Cottrell's research interests center on altered physiological states in livestock and their translation to production efficiency and product quality. He investigates factors compromising the gastrointestinal tract, developmental effects on skeletal muscle formation and growth, and the ramifications of elevated environmental temperatures, particularly heat stress, on livestock performance, meat quality, and gut barrier function. His studies explore nutritional supplements like betaine, antioxidants, selenium, vitamin E, cinnamon, polyphenols from Australian native plants, and organic acids to mitigate oxidative stress and enhance resilience in production animals including pigs, broiler chickens, sheep, and dairy cattle. Key publications include 'Selenium and vitamin E together improve intestinal epithelial barrier function and alleviate oxidative stress in heat-stressed pigs' (Experimental Physiology, 2016), 'Cinnamon: A natural feed additive for poultry health and production—A review' (Animals, 2021), 'Betaine and antioxidants improve growth performance, breast muscle development and ameliorate thermoregulatory responses to cyclic heat exposure in broiler chickens' (Animals, 2018), 'Growth performance and characterization of meat quality of broiler chickens supplemented with betaine and antioxidants under cyclic heat stress' (Antioxidants, 2019), and 'What have we learned about the effects of heat stress on the pig industry?' (Animal, 2022). With 179 publications and over 3,415 citations documented on ResearchGate, Cottrell contributes to in vivo assessments of feed supplements and supervises graduate research projects on livestock resilience.