Alltech continues their commitment to supporting the Poultry Science Association and student research with the 20^th anniversary of the Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award. This year’s award was presented virtually to Sarah Struthers from Canada, who is currently completing her Ph.D. in genetics and genomics at The Roslin Institute, the University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College. This award is given to a student who is the senior author of an outstanding research manuscript published in Poultry Science or The Journal of Applied Poultry Research.

“Innovation is the core of our business at Alltech, and we are proud to support students and the advancements they are making in the poultry industry,” said Dr. Kayla Price, Canadian technical manager for Alltech.

Dr. Price presented the award to Struthers virtually on September 2, 2020. Struthers’ winning paper, entitled, “The effect of beak tissue sloughing and post-treatment beak shape on the productivity of infrared beak-treated layer pullets and hens,” was published in September 2019. Her co-authors on the paper included Dr. Henry Classen, Dr. Susantha Gomis and Dr. Karen Schwean-Lardner, who are all from the University of Saskatchewan.

Struthers was born in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, and grew up in Cranbrook, British Columbia. She received her bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Saskatchewan in 2015. Although she was initially terrified of chickens, she began working toward her master’s degree in 2016 with Dr. Karen Schwean-Lardner at the University of Saskatchewan, where she focused on the impacts of infrared beak treatment on the production, behavior and welfare of layer pullets and hens. After successfully defending her thesis in 2018, she worked as a research assistant in Dr. Schwean-Lardner’s lab and conducted further research on the impacts of infrared beak treatment.

In September 2019, Struthers moved to Scotland, where she is currently completing her Ph.D. in genetics and genomics at The Roslin Institute, the University of Edinburgh and Scotland’s Rural College under the supervision of Dr. Jeff Schoenebeck and Dr. Vicky Sandilands. Her doctoral research focuses on determining the pre-existing variation in beak shape that occurs within layer hen breeding flocks and identifying which beak shapes cause the least amount of damage when hens engage in feather pecking behavior.

Alltech has sponsored the Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award since 2000, recognizing young leaders in scientific innovation for their commitment to publishing and sharing their work in the poultry sector. For more information, visit poultryscience.org.