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 The experiment, recently published in Regulatory Toxicology and
Pharmacology, was pretty simple. It showed neonatal pigs
tolerated milk replacer with pectin included at 0.2%. The
research was done at the request of and with funding from
formula manufacturer Mead Johnson Nutrition (now a division of
RB), who hoped to prove the safety of the natural food additive
for infants against a backdrop of new European standards.
Translating basic science into actionable industry and
practitioner insights is part of the DNA of the College of
Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at
Illinois. From the college’s perspective, public-private
partnerships help industry and the public by providing unbiased,
transparent science to back up or refute industry claims and
practices. These partnerships also give ACES students
opportunities to work within the industry landscape before
entering the workforce.
“What’s beautiful about these public-private partnerships is
their ability to more quickly create what’s needed on the front
lines of agriculture and other industries,” says ACES Dean Kim
Kidwell. “When industry is talking directly to our talented
scientists and students, innovation is inevitable.”
Ryan Dilger, study co-author and associate professor in the
Department of Animal Sciences at Illinois acknowledges there can
be a negative public perception about university scientists
working with private companies. “It's tricky, but for us, it's
always science first.”
In 2015, Mead Johnson approached Dilger with a proposal that
would fund construction of a new research center to study infant
brain and gut development using the neonatal pig as a
preclinical model. Within the scientific community, piglets are
accepted as a more informative proxy for human infants than mice
and rats. That’s because, to a much greater degree than rodents,
piglet digestive systems, behavioral responses, and brain
development mirror those of human babies.
Dilger worked with neonatal piglets prior to 2015, but he knew
having a dedicated building to conduct the research was a major
boon with benefits that would go far beyond Mead Johnson’s
investment.
“We work with other partners using that same infrastructure.
Every company we work with makes investments in the tools we
need to do cutting-edge research, which then everybody gets
access to,” Dilger says. “We don't like exclusivity.
Public-private investments build up our capacity as university
scientists to be steadfast in an ever-changing world.”
The partnership with Mead Johnson also led Stephen Fleming, a
former doctoral student working with Dilger and co-author on the
pectin study, to identify hurdles facing private companies who
want to work with university scientists.
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To address the issue, Fleming and Dilger launched a
startup company to help companies traverse the intricacies of the
university research landscape. They call it Traverse Science.
“There was no service we knew of, especially in the
biological sciences, connecting students and faculty with commercial
presences who need help or expertise to perform and publish basic
research. Traverse Science does that in the context of food and
nutrition,” Fleming says.
He points to a growing industry trend to downsize in-house research
and development capacity, relying instead on university researchers
or contract research organizations. Traverse Science, part of the
EnterpriseWorks Incubator at the University of Illinois Research
Park, connects companies with Illinois experts and offers project
administration, data analysis, and publication services.
“We exist so scientists can focus on the science and business can
keep moving forward,” Fleming notes. “We think science should enable
business, not slow it down.”
Many university scientists working with industry are motivated to
infuse more transparent, high-quality, peer-reviewed science into
product claims, industry practice, and policy.
“Conducting practical research studies is something we want to
continue to promote through ACES and Traverse. We want to hold
industry to the high standards of our scientific training for the
benefit of the public,” Dilger says. “We’ll always be scientists
first.”
The article, “Dietary pectin at 0.2% in milk replacer did not
inhibit growth, feed intake, or nutrient digestibility in a 3-week
neonatal pig study,” is published in Regulatory Toxicology and
Pharmacology [DOI: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2020.104669]. Authors include
Stephen Fleming, Jim Richards, Cris Bradley, Xiao Pan, Grace Li, and
Ryan Dilger. Funding was provided by RB Mead Johnson Nutrition.
[Sources: Ryan Dilger, Stephen
Fleming,
News writer: Lauren Quinn]
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