A West Virginia University student is off to an excellent start on his scholarly career, having earned a Certificate of Excellence at the Poultry Science Associations 2007 annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas.Curran K. Gehring, a senior in animal and nutritional sciences from Kirkland, Wash., was one of only two undergraduate recipients of the certificate.

Gehring was recognized for his research presentation onMuscle proteins recovered from trout frames: Potential pellet binding agent and source of essential amino acids.The paper was co-authored by Jacek Jaczynski and Joseph Moritz, animal and nutritional sciences faculty in WVU s Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences.

Presenters are judged against a set of objective criteria by a panel of industry/academia experts and recipients must demonstrate excellence in relation to their peers,said Moritz.The field is highly competitive and thus the award is a great honor.

Gehring will earn his bachelor of science degree this year.He has taken part in WVU s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience for two years, and has been involved with the Moritz lab and applied nutrition and feed manufacture research since spring of 2006.

Moritz is the 2007 recipient of the Land �€~O Lakes/Purina Mills Teaching Award, and Gehrings work with Moritz has yielded valuable experience in all aspects of feed manufacture and broiler production. Collaboration with Jaczynski has provided novel multi-disciplinary research opportunities, combining the fields of food science/technology and feed manufacture.

Gehring has also been mentored by and worked closely with Dale Karlson, a faculty member in the Davis Colleges interdisciplinary program in genetics and developmental biology, concerning nutrient-mediated gene expression in the broiler small intestine.

He will continue with graduate studies at WVU , focusing on factors affecting amino acid availability of muscle proteins and the effect of feed containing muscle protein paste on broiler performance.

This research shows great promise,Moritz said.As a function of dramatically improved pellet quality, muscle protein gelation may also lead to significantly lower feed conversion. The latent savings are apparent, as feed costs account for 60 to 70 percent of the total cost of broiler production.

Gehring will continue this applied research with the aspiration of directly benefiting the poultry industry.