Biography

I earned two Bachelor of Science degrees in Animal and Poultry Science and Dairy Science, along with a Master of Science degree in ruminant nutrition, from Virginia Tech. I then completed my PhD in dairy cattle nutritional physiology at Purdue University, where my dissertation focused on alterations in hepatic and renal metabolic flux in response to saturated and unsaturated fat levels. My postdoctoral training at Purdue University focused on how colostrum shapes the metabolic transition of the neonatal piglet from in utero to the external environment. During my postdoctoral training, I was awarded a USDA postdoctoral fellowship to examine how colostrum feeding influences nutrient fluxes in the liver of neonatal piglets.

Specific Research Areas

The overarching goal of my lab is to help dairy animals have healthy transitions. We focus on two critical windows within a dairy animal’s life: the transition from a non-lactating state to a lactating state in a mature cow and the calf’s transition from in utero to the immediate postnatal environment. These two critical windows present both metabolic and immunological difficulties to the animals, and our aim is to investigate nutritional, environment, or management strategies that may help alleviate metabolic inefficiencies to support healthy transitions.

Dairy cattle must synthesize 90% of their glucose requirements. Producing glucose comes at a huge metabolic cost because a cow must produce 1 lb of glucose for every 10 lbs of milk she produces. This responsibility is further exacerbated by critical homeorhetic adaptations that occur during the transition period to support exponential fetal growth and lactation initiation and persistence. The liver is responsible for 80% of glucose production, whereas the kidneys are responsible for 20%. There are multiple metabolic bottlenecks or potential inefficiencies that may occur when producing glucose, such as substrate availability and movement (flux) of nutrients through metabolic pathways. Thus, a major research focus in my lab is to quantify hepatic metabolic flux of dairy cattle in response to changes in diet, environment, or management.

Another focus in my lab is to understand the role colostrum plays in the metabolic transition of the neonatal calf from the in utero environment to the external environment. Colostrum is the first milk produced by the mammary gland and contains a distinct level of nutrients and bioactive factors compared to other phases of milk. Colostrum plays a critical role in the immunological transition of the neonatal calf from in utero to the postnatal environment by supplying antibodies to the calf, but we know less about the potential metabolic benefits colostrum may have for the calf both in the short and long term.

Research Objectives

1. Quantify hepatic metabolic flux of dairy cattle in response to alterations in diet, environment, or management
2. Identify potential bottlenecks or inefficiencies leading to altered metabolic flux in dairy cattle, and use nutritional or environment strategies to alleviate these bottlenecks
3. Determine the role colostrum plays in the metabolic transition of the neonatal calf from in utero to the immediate postnatal environment
4. Connect early life nutrition to short- and long-term production outcomes, like growth, disease abatement, reproductive competency at puberty, and milk production in dairy cattle

Selected publications

1. Beckett, L. M., Ogundare, L. G. Reis, K. Harlow, A. Hill, M. Dinn, E. Shelton, E. Tobolski, C. Meade, Y. Han-Hallett, C. R. Ferreira, K. Stewart, and T. M. Casey. 2026. Impact of level of nutritional dose and diet specific components of colostrum in promoting 24 h gain, circulating lipid profile, and circulating levels of immunocrit, proteins, glucose, and free amino acids in neonatal gilt piglets. PLoS One. 21:e0341179. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0341179. Available from: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0341179
2. Beckett, L. M., S. J. Kendall, T. M. Casey, S. S. Donkin, and H. M. White. 2025. Invited review: Fueling milk production carbon by carbon-Regulation of hepatic glucose production in dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 108:11787–11801. doi:10.3168/jds.2025-26987. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2025-26987
3. Beckett, L. M., B. Gast, E. Tobolski, L. Jones, K. Gouveia, Y. Han-Hallett, T. Casey, and J. P. Boerman. 2025. Dam prepartum skeletal muscle reserves and supplementation with branched-chain volatile fatty acids during late gestation influence calf birth weight and calf muscle metabolic activity. JDS Commun. 6:293–298. doi:10.3168/jdsc.2024-0581. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jdsc.2024-0581
4. Beckett, L. M., S. Scinto, E. Shelton, K. M. Gouveia, C. Andolino, A. M. Hill, N. E. Sunny, S. Hilger, M. P. Sheeley, J. Guimarães-Laguna, D. Teegarden, T. M. Casey, and S. S. Donkin. 2025. Fluxomics combined with shotgun proteomics reveals a differential response of bovine kidney cells to extracellular palmitic and α-linolenic acid. Physiol. Genomics. doi:10.1152/physiolgenomics.00141.2024. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/physiolgenomics.00141.2024
5. Beckett, L. M., V. M. R. Malacco, K. M. Gouveia, A. Mann, C. J. Andolino, K. Harlow, N. E. Sunny, R. C. Neves, J. R. Burgess, J. P. Boerman, T. M. Casey, and S. S. Donkin. 2024. Long-chain fatty acids mediate hepatic metabolic flux in preruminating dairy calves fed flaxseed oil, high oleic soybean oil, or milk fat. J. Dairy Sci. 107:7932–7950. doi:10.3168/jds.2023-24500. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2023-24500
6. Beckett, L. M., S. S. Donkin, and T. Casey. 2023. Circadian disruption decreases gluconeogenic flux in late-gestation, nonlactating dairy cows. JDS Communications. doi:10.3168/jdsc.2022-0353. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666910223000443

Complete Publications List (ORCID)