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
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 42 news items.

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.
06/24/2026
award
The lab had a successful week at ADSA 2026 in Milwaukee. Dr. Yu presented an invited symposium talk and one oral presentation.
Our PhD student, Angelo De Castro delivered one oral presentation and earned First Place in the Production Division PhD Poster Competition. Congratulations, Angelo!
06/09/2026
funding
The lab is contributing to a USDA NIFA-funded collaboration developing AI models that support dairy cow health and help reduce antibiotic use. PhD student Angelo De Castro is actively contributing to the interdisciplinary research. Watch the interview.
02/03/2026
preprint
Zhou's new preprint compares 3D point-cloud and depth-image data for automated body condition score prediction.
01/03/2026
preprint
Jin's new preprint investigates how transfer learning can improve image-based dairy cattle body-weight prediction for small farms.

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