Virginia L. Pszczolkowski | Curriculum vitae

USDA-NIFA PREDOCTORAL FELLOW

PHD CANDIDATE

Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Training Program

Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences ∙ University of Wisconsin-Madison

Email: pszczolkowsk@wisc.edu ∙ Phone: +1 (906) 286-3138

856 Animal Sciences Building ∙ Madison, WI

Pronouns: they / them

EDUCATION

Graduate – in progress
UW-Madison ∙ Madison, WI (GPA: 3.54)
PhD in Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology
Doctoral Minor in Dairy Science

Undergraduate – 2016
Warren Wilson College ∙ Swannanoa, NC
(GPA: 3.41)
B.S. in Biochemistry

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

• Research Assistant – (August 2017 – present)

The Arriola Apelo Lab, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, UW-Madison

• WARF Ambassador – (May 2021 – present)

Outreach for tech transfer and IP services for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Fund, Madison, WI

• Animal Research Technician – (February 2017 – August 2017)

Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, WI

• Assistant Cheesemaker and Creamery Operator – (June 2016 – Nov 2016)

Winter Hill Farm, Freeport, ME

• Meat Sales Manager – (August 2014 - May 2016)

Warren Wilson College Farm, Swannanoa, NC

• Tutor in Organic Chemistry and Physics – (January 2014 - May 2014)

Warren Wilson College Academic Support, Swannanoa, NC

• Peer Instructor for General Chemistry I – (August 2013 - December 2013)

Warren Wilson College Department of Chemistry, Swannanoa, NC

TEACHING & MENTORSHIP

• Teaching Assistant for Ruminant Nutrition and Metabolism (ANDYSCI 414), 1 section, in Primary Instructor: Sebastian Arriola Apelo. UW-Madison. (Fall Semester 2021)
• Graduate mentor and supervisor for undergraduates completing a Senior Honors Thesis in 3 students. Arriola Apelo Lab, UW-Madison. (2020 – present)
• Mentored & trained an undergraduate research intern as part of a UW-Madison/Tuskegee collaborative internship project. Media coverage: https://tinyurl.com/tuskegee-uw-intern. Arriola Apelo Lab, UW-Madison. (2019)
• LGBTQ Peer Mentor with the Gender and Sexuality Campus UW-Madison. (2019 – present)
• Graduate mentor and supervisor for undergraduates taking Introductory Biology: Independent Project. 1-2 students each Spring Semester. Arriola Apelo Lab, UW-Madison. (2018 – present)
• Supervise and train 1-3 undergraduate research assistants per Arriola Apelo Lab, UW-Madison. (2018 – present)

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Campus committees & organizations

• Search and screen committee for College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Chief Diversity Officer, graduate student representative, UW-Madison. (2021).
• Climate and Diversity Committee, graduate student representative, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences. UW-Madison. (2020 – present)
• Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Symposium planning UW-Madison. (2020 – present)
• Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Student UW-Madison. (2019 – present)
• Animal Sciences Graduate Student UW-Madison. (2017 – present)
• Committee for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer People in the University, graduate student representative. UW-Madison. (2019 – 2022)
• Dean of Students Advisory Board, graduate student UW-Madison. (2019 – 2022)

Volunteer work

• LGBT Books to Prisoners volunteer Madison, WI. (2020 – present). https://lgbtbookstoprisoners.org/
• Targeting Excellence Wisconsin Sporting Clay Scholarship Classic student representative and Waunakee, WI. (2019). https://targetingexcellence.org/
• Cows on the Concourse volunteer "Wisconsin Dairy Expert". Madison, (2018, 2022). https://www.cowsontheconcourse.org/

AWARDS & HONORS

• USDA-NIFA Predoctoral Fellowship recipient, competitive grant 2021-67034-35172 (2021 – 2023)
• 2nd place National ADSA Production Division Graduate Student Oral Competition, American Dairy Science Association Annual Meeting, Kansas City, MO (2022)
• 1st place Derieux Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research: Health Science and Molecular Biology category, oral presentation, North Carolina Academy of Science (2016)
• Algie and Elizabeth Sutton Honor Scholarship, Warren Wilson College (2012 – 2016)
• USA Cycling Academic All-Star, Warren Wilson College (2016)
• Warren Wilson College Athletics Fighting Owl (2014, 2016)
• Warren Wilson College Farm Black Dome Award (2015)
• Silver Key, Scholastic Art & Writing Award, The Putney School (2012)
• Best in Show, The Arts Council of Windham County Student Art Month, The Putney School (2012)

PUBLICATIONS

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=-FQ7JhIAAAAJ
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6476-6214

Pszczolkowski, V. L., Hu, H., Zhang, J., Connelly, M. K., Munsterman, A. S., Arriola Apelo, S. I. (2022). Effects of methionine, leucine, and insulin on circulating concentrations and mammary extraction of energy substrates and amino acids in lactating dairy cows. Domestic Animal Endocrinology, 81:106730. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.domaniend.2022.106730

Pszczolkowski, V.L., Pszczolkowski, V.L., Connelly, M.K., Beard, A.D., Laporta, J., Hernandez, L.L., Arriola Apelo, S.I. (2022) Effects of 5-hydroxytryptophan on Glucose Tolerance and Lactation in Dairy Cows. Abstract. The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, 36. doi: https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2022.36.S1.R3262

Pszczolkowski, V. L., Arriola Apelo, S.I. (2020). The market for amino acids: understanding supply and demand of substrate for more efficient milk protein synthesis. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, 11, 108. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40104-020-00514-6

Pszczolkowski, V. L., Halderson, S. J., Meyer, E. J., Lin, A., & Arriola Apelo, S. I. (2020). Pharmacologic inhibition of mTORC1 mimics dietary protein restriction in a mouse model of lactation. Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology, 11(1), 1-10. doi: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40104-020-00470-1

Pszczolkowski, V.L., Zhang J., Pignato, K., Meyer, E.J., Kurth, M., Arriola Apelo, S.I. (2020). Insulin potentiates essential amino acid effects on mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 signaling in MAC-T cells. Journal of Dairy Science, 103(12). doi: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2020-18920

Kuehnl, J.M., Connelly, M.K., Dzidic, A., Lauber, M., Fricke, H.P., Klister, M., Olstad, E., Balbach, M., Timlin, E., Pszczolkowski, V., and Crump, P.M., Reinemann, D.J., Hernandez, L.H. (2019). The effects of incomplete milking and increased milking frequency on milk production rate and milk composition. Journal of Animal Science, 97(6), 2424-2432. doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skz113

Pszczolkowski, V., Bryant, R., Harlow, B., Aiken, G., Martin, L. and Flythe, M. (2016). Effects of Spent Craft Brewers’ Yeast on Fermentation and Methane Production by Rumen Microorganisms. Advances in Microbiology, 6, 716-723. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/aim.2016.69070

ARTICLES IN PREPARATION

Pszczolkowski, V.L., Connelly, M. K., Beard, A. D., Laporta, J., Hernandez, L. L., Arriola Apelo, S. I. (2022) Intravenous glucose tolerance test responses following 5-HTP infusion in lactating dairy cows. Journal of Endocrinology. In preparation.

Pszczolkowski, V.L., Hu, H., Zhang, J., Brown, B., Halderson, S., Connelly, M., Munsterman, A., Arriola Apelo, S.I. (2023). Dietary energy and grouped amino acids interact to alter milk production in mid-lactation cows. Journal of Dairy Science. In preparation.

CONFERENCE & SYMPOSIUM PRESENTATIONS

• American Dairy Science Association Meeting; 2022 Jun 19-22; Kansas City, MO, USA. Oral presentation. Effects of 5-hydroxytryptophan on energy metabolism in dairy cows. Pszczolkowski, V.L., Connelly, M.K., Beard, A.D., Laporta, J., Hernandez, H., Arriola Apelo, S.I. Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI.
• International Congress on Farm Animal Endocrinology; 2021 October 10-12; Isle of Palms, SC, Poster presentation. Effects of 5-hydroxytryptophan on intravenous glucose tolerance test responses in lactating dairy cows. Pszczolkowski, V.L., Connelly, M.K., Beard, A.D., Laporta, J., Hernandez, L.H., Arriola Apelo, S.I. Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI.
• International Congress on Farm Animal Endocrinology; 2021 October 10-12; Isle of Palms, SC, Poster presentation. Intermittent infusion of 5-hydroxytryptophan induces acute, transient changes in milk production and feed intake in dairy cows. Pszczolkowski, V.L., Connelly, M.K., Beard, A.D., Laporta, J., Hernandez, L.H., Arriola Apelo, S.I. Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI.
• American Dairy Science Association Meeting, 2020, Poster presentation. Energy source conditions the milk response to TOR-AA in dairy cows. V. L. Pszczolkowski, H. Hu, B. Brown, S. Halderson, J. Zhang, A. Munsterman, S. I. Arriola Apelo. Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI.
• American Dairy Science Association Meeting, 2020, Poster presentation. An 8-hour hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp is insufficient to alter milk production in lactating dairy cows. V. L. Pszczolkowski, H. Hu, J. Zhang, M. Connelly, A. Munsterman, S. I. Arriola Apelo. Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI.
• International Symposium on Ruminant Physiology, 2019, Leipzig, Saxony, Poster presentation. Dietary amino acid regulation of murine lactation is medi- ated by mTORC1. V. L. Pszczolkowski, S. J. Halderson, E. J. Meyer, A. Lin, S. I. Arriola Apelo. Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
• Madison Scholars Symposium, 2019, Madison, Oral presentation. Nutritional and endocrine regulation of mammary mTORC1 and its role in milk pro- tein synthesis. V. L. Pszczolkowski, H. Hu, J. Zhang, S. Halderson, E. Meyer, K. Pignato, S. I. Arriola Apelo. Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin- Madison, WI.
• American Dairy Science Association Meeting, 2018, Louisville, KY. Oral Insulin is required for essential amino acid stimulation of mTORC1 signaling in mammary cells. V. L. Pszczolkowski, M. M. Kurth, E. Meyer, and S. I. Arriola Apelo, Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI.
• North Carolina Academy of Science Annual Meeting, 2016, Fayetteville, NC. Oral Effects of Spent Craft Brewer’s Yeast on Ruminant Methane and Ammonia Production. V. L. Pszczolkowski, R. Bryant, and L. Martin. Department of Chemistry, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC.

SEMINAR PRESENTATIONS

• Serotonergic regulation of energy metabolism in lactating dairy V. L. Pszczolkowski, 5th year PhD candidate, Arriola Apelo Lab. February 2022. Endocri- nology and Reproductive Physiology Seminar, UW-Madison, WI.
• Effects of insulin, energy, and amino acids on mTORC1 and V. L. Pszczolkowski, 4th year PhD candidate, Arriola Apelo Lab. April 2021. Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Seminar, UW-Madison, WI.
• Molecular mechanisms for making milk – from Madison, V. L. Pszczolkowski, 3rd year PhD student, Arriola Apelo Lab. February 2020. Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Sequence Seminar, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC. Invited guest speaker.
• Going to grad school and choosing a program: perspectives from a 3rd year PhD student. V. L. Pszczolkowski, 3rd year PhD student, Arriola Apelo Lab. February 2020. Natural Sciences Undergraduate Research Sequence Seminar, Warren Wilson College, Swannanoa, NC. Invited guest speaker.
• Endocrine and nutritional regulation of mammary mTORC1 and its role in milk protein synthesis. V. L. Pszczolkowski, 2nd year PhD student, Arriola Apelo Lab. April 2019. Dairy Science Departmental Seminar, UW-Madison, WI.
• Endocrine and nutritional regulation of mammary mTORC1 and its role in milk protein synthesis. V. L. Pszczolkowski, 2nd year PhD student, Arriola Apelo Lab. December 2018. Endocrinology and Reproductive Physiology Seminar, UW-Madison, WI.

RELEVANT COURSEWORK