Ortega is an assistant professor of reproductive physiology in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at UW–Madison. Her work focuses on the genetic regulation of fertility with an emphasis in preimplantation embryonic development and placentation in the bovine. She uses novel genomic approaches including gene editing, to investigate the effect of reproduction-related genes on development and physiology.
Postdoc (pictured above): Froylan Sosa Hernandez is a postdoctoral research associate in Sofia Ortega’s reproductive physiology lab in the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at UW–Madison. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida in 2022. He attended the veterinary school graduated in 2014 with distinction. His graduate research was focused on the SLICK1 mutation of the PRLR and the use of CSF2 as potential strategies to mitigate deleterious effects of heat stress.
The Dairy Task Force 2.0 recommended creating the Dairy Innovation Hub (recommendation #2) to address an urgent need for research and innovation to maintain a sustainable competitive advantage of Wisconsin dairies. In addition, recommendation #26 calls for new, unique, impactful ideas to be explored which could provide significant benefits to the dairy industry by leveraging the cross-disciplinary expertise within the UW system. This cross-disciplinary research effort focuses on the nutritional regulation of reproductive function. Specifically, we will investigate an economic dietary strategy to modulate placenta development during the first month after insemination in order to reduce or prevent pregnancy loss. This period was selected as more than 50% of pregnancy losses occur at this time, which places reproductive failure as the second most reported reason for involuntary culling in the US. Aim 1 will determine if essential amino acid supplementation in lactating dairy cows during the first month of pregnancy rescues a high pregnancy loss phenotype due to impaired placental development and function. Aim 2 Will elucidate the mechanisms by which essential amino acids regulate placental function in vitro. Results from this research could not only improve reproductive outcomes and reduce involuntary culling, but it will also reduce production costs, which will contribute to the sustainability of dairy farms.