Welcome!

Welcome to the Artificial Intelligence in Animal Omics Sciences (AIAOS) Lab in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Florida.

Our overall research focuses on using artificial intelligence and statistical modeling to integrate high-dimensional, heterogeneous omics data to advance animal agriculture. Our first research area focuses on developing artificial intelligence models and open-source software tools to capture and extract digital phenotypes of animals to support data-driven decisions that improve animal health, production, welfare, and other management practices in livestock farming systems. Our second research area centers on developing artificial intelligence and statistical models to integrate these digital phenotypes with genomic and other omics data to enhance the genetic improvement of animals.

Lab highlights

milestone
09/15/2026

Jin Wang's Next Chapter

PhD graduate Jin Wang will join CaseGuard as a Machine Learning Engineer in Arlington, Virginia, in October 2026. Congratulations, Jin!

08/26/2026

Student Milestones

Yuxi (Fiona) Zhang began her PhD studies in quantitative genetics, and Angelo De Castro advanced to PhD candidacy.

07/01/2026

Celebrating Our Trainees

The lab celebrated its first PhD and Master's graduates alongside other recent trainee achievements.

award
06/24/2026

First Place at ADSA 2026

PhD student Angelo De Castro earned First Place in the Production Division PhD Poster Competition.

News

Showing 5 recent updates from 47 news items.

09/28/2026
publication
Our paper led by Jin Wang is now online in the Journal of Dairy Science! The study shows how transfer learning can improve dairy cattle body-weight prediction on a small farm using depth images and point-cloud data. Congratulations, Jin! Read the paper.
09/15/2026
milestone
Congratulations to Jin Wang, our first PhD graduate, who will join CaseGuard as a Machine Learning Engineer in Arlington, Virginia, in October 2026! We wish Jin all the best in this exciting next chapter.
08/26/2026
milestone
Two exciting student milestones: After completing her Master's degree in the lab, Yuxi (Fiona) Zhang began her PhD studies with us, with research focused on quantitative genetics. Angelo De Castro successfully passed his PhD qualifying examination and is now a PhD candidate. Congratulations, Yuxi and Angelo!
08/10/2026
Impact & Outreach
Our cloud-based, pen-level heat-stress monitoring system was featured in Hoard's Dairyman. Results from three summers on a large commercial dairy show how monitoring and rapid response can help reduce heat stress and improve management on Southeast dairy farms. Read the article.
08/01/2026
funding
Our proposal to improve heat-stress management and labor efficiency on Southeast dairy farms through a regional decision-support platform has been funded by the Southeast Dairy Producer's Check-Off Program.
07/19/2026
event
Dr. Yu presented "Leveraging AI-derived Digital Phenotypes for Precision Monitoring of Dairy Cattle Production, Health, and Behavior" at the 2026 ASAS-NANP Symposium on Mathematical Modeling in Nutrition. View the LinkedIn post.
07/17/2026
event
The lab attended the 13th WCGALP in Madison, Wisconsin, July 12-17. Dr. Yu co-chaired the Genetic Gain and Inbreeding session. Both Angelo and Dr. Yu presented the lab's research projects.
07/01/2026
milestone
The AIAOS Lab celebrated four milestones: Jin's PhD graduation, Fiona's Master's defense, Angelo's First Place ADSA award, and Zhou's completion of postdoctoral training. View photos from the celebration.
06/29/2026
milestone
Yuxi (Fiona) successfully defended her Master's thesis as the first Master's graduate from the AIAOS Lab. She will continue with the lab as a PhD student in Animal Breeding and Genetics.

View all news →