Rebecca Poole

Dr. Poole is an Assistant Professor of Physiology of Reproduction in the Department of Animal Science. She received a B.S. in Animal Science from North Carolina State University (2014) before earning her M.S. in Animal and Poultry Sciences from Virginia Tech (2016) and Ph.D. in Animal Science from North Carolina State University (2019). She then was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University from 2019 to 2021. During this time, she was awarded a USDA-AFRI Postdoctoral Fellowship focusing on the relationship between hormonal and immunological changes and the microbiome of the reproductive tract.

Research in the Poole lab seeks to better understand biological mechanisms that are associated with reduced fertility in domestic livestock species (e.g., beef and dairy cattle, pigs, and sheep), specifically pertaining to how factors such as metabolic disorders, immune function and/or environmental factors contribute to reproductive failure. The long-term goal of this research is to optimize fertility in livestock species to thus improve the sustainability and profitability of the animal production industry.