Our lab is focused on the energetics, physiology, and ecology of gastrointestinal microbes. Of particular interest are microbes of the rumen
(forestomach) of cattle and other ruminants. These microbes form a mutualism with their ruminant host and ferment fibrous feeds.

Our goal is to improve efficiency of gastrointestinal microbes, which will improve the efficiency of livestock production in turn. We are accomplishing this goal in several ways:

• Tackling poor efficiency of microbial growth
• Determining how much energy microbes harvest from fermentation
• Identifying what food (substrates) uncultured bacteria eat

More details can be found at https://hackmannlab.org/