Gerardo Abascal-Ponciano

My name is Gerardo Abascal-Ponciano; I am a Ph. D. student in the Department of Poultry Science at Auburn University. During my graduate studies, I have had the opportunity to be involved in a variety of projects including feed manufacture, dietary vitamin and enzyme supplementation in broiler diets, pet treat manufacture from upcycled meat processing products, broiler chicken gut and muscle physiology, and swine muscle physiology. I have also had the opportunity to mentor undergraduate and graduate students during their careers through university mentoring programs and by establishing trainings for incoming lab members. My current research focuses on gastrointestinal cellular integrity and immunological development. I will be utilizing protein chemistry and cytohistological laboratory methodologies to better understand the development of the gastrointestinal immune barrier and acquired immunological responses to antibiotic free diets fed to broiler chickens.

Upon graduation, I want to join a sales team for the allied industry, specifically a feed ingredient company. This is to learn about customers, industry problems or demands, develop my public relationship skills, and help customers to properly overcome their limitations. It would also help me develop sales skills, which is an area that I have not had the opportunity to develop during my academic career. After obtaining initial experience in the industry and learning about the producers’ needs, I believe that I could provide a positive contribution to the industry by joining a product development team. By leveraging my expertise in nutrition and gut health, I can create solutions that will benefit the maximum number of producers. Solutions that will be based on current and future environmental and economic demands. My goal is to provide sustainable, efficient solutions to the animal protein industry through new products.