Exit interview with Li-Hsuan Chen

What has been the most valuable learning experience for you during your time in PIG-PARADIGM?

I would say international collaboration has been the most valuable experience. We had the opportunity to visit different laboratories across countries and meet PhD students from diverse backgrounds during the annual meetings. These interactions allowed us to discuss protocols, compare methodologies, and identify best practices, for example, in metabolomics data analysis pipelines and the culture media used for cell models.

If you had more time in PIG-PARADIGM, is there any area of your research or collaboration you would have liked to explore further?

I would have liked to further explore the organoid field. We had many organoid experts within PIG-PARADIGM, and I also conducted some organoid studies during my PhD. Therefore, I believe there was strong potential for deeper collaboration with other members in this area.

Impact:

From a scientific perspective, which part of your research do you see as a key steppingstone for future research?

We observed that supplementation with surplus essential amino acids in high crude protein diets have the potential to reduce post-weaning diarrhea. This strategy could help mitigate some of the negative effects typically associated with high dietary crude protein, such as increased protein fermentation in the hindgut and impaired gut health. Furthermore, our untargeted metabolomics analysis suggested that the purine metabolism pathway may be involved in the response to this supplementation strategy. These findings indicate a possible shift in the gut microbiome–metabolome interplay, potentially leading to increased purine nucleotide availability in the hindgut. This, in turn, may be associated with an improved energy status of colonocytes, which could support cell proliferation and overall gut health.

Which aspect of your research do you believe holds the most promise for real-world impact - for example, improving practices for farmers or veterinarians, or reducing antimicrobial use in pig production?

Identifying surplus essential amino acid supplementation as a strategy to reduce post-weaning diarrhea holds strong real-world potential. This aligns with findings from a large Danish farm study showing that such supplementation can reduce antibiotic treatment days for post-weaning diarrhea by up to 50%, with an effect comparable to medicinal zinc oxide. In addition, our findings highlight the role of nucleotides as important contributors to gut health under this supplementation strategy. This suggests that nucleotide supplementation could also be explored as a potential alternative to antimicrobials in pig production.

What do you feel you gained from being part of a large, interdisciplinary, and cross-institutional project like PIG-PARADIGM?

Being part of PIG-PARADIGM has been a highly rewarding experience. The project allowed us to measure a wide range of parameters and address multiple mechanistic research questions, giving me a comprehensive understanding of how dietary protein and essential amino acid levels influence gut health in weaned piglets. The cross-institutional collaboration was particularly valuable, as each partner contributed expertise to different aspects of the shared goal of reducing antimicrobial use. By integrating these findings, we move closer to understanding the mechanisms behind diet-related diarrhea risk and identifying promising dietary strategies as alternatives to antimicrobials.

What are your next steps, and how do you hope to apply what you’ve learned from PIG-PARADIGM?

My next step is to continue pursuing research opportunities with the same enthusiasm, ideally in an international and collaborative environment. I hope to apply what I have learned from PIG-PARADIGM, particularly in interdisciplinary research and translational approaches, to contribute to future projects focused on animal health and sustainable production.