Benjamin Corl

Associate Professor, Nutrition Physiology

Graduate Program Chair

School of Animal Sciences
2020 Litton-Reaves Hall
175 West Campus Drive
Blacksburg, VA 24061

bcorl@vt.edu

540-231-2422

Dr. Ben Corl completed a B.S. in Biochemistry at Virginia Tech, a Ph.D. at Cornell University, and a post-doc at North Carolina State University. He joined the faculty of the Department of Dairy Science in 2005. His research interests focus on milk synthesis in the mammary gland of dairy cows. Through his studies, Dr. Corl hopes to improve the efficiency and welfare of animals as well as improve the food products derived from them. Currently, his lab group studies the local regulation of milk synthesis in dairy cows.

Research

Through advances in genetic selection and management, milk production of dairy cows has greatly increased. The number of mammary epithelial cells and their activity level determine the daily milk production of a dairy cow, and so we are interested in factors that influence the number and activity of mammary epithelial cells. It is apparent that some of the regulation of milk synthesis is controlled locally within the mammary gland. We are examining how this local control can be used to increase the efficiency of milk production and how it is mediated within the mammary gland.