LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Suzuki Lab
Machine-translated · View original
A lab studying how a calf's digestive tract develops and how its intestinal immunity works.
AboutAbout the lab
For raising strong, healthy calves
The Suzuki Lab studies how the digestive tract of calves develops, and how intestinal immunity and gut bacteria interact.
Cattle can convert plant fiber that humans cannot use, such as pasture grass, into energy and protein, but newborn calves have almost no such ability.
The lab combines fieldwork at a farm located within the Sapporo Campus, cell and molecular experiments in the laboratory, and analysis using next-generation sequencers.
The lab is part of the Field Science Center for Northern Biosphere, and students join through the Graduate School of Environmental Science.
Key terms
- Rumen
- The first and largest of the four stomachs in ruminants such as cattle. Microorganisms there break down plant fiber
- Gut microbiota
- The community of many kinds of bacteria living in the intestine. Also called gut flora
- Colostrum
- Milk a mother cow produces right after giving birth. It is rich in antibodies that protect the calf from disease
NewsLab news
View More ↗ResearchResearch themes
The lab examines in detail how calves' bodily mechanisms, immunity, and tissues change as they grow, aiming to lead to techniques for raising strong, healthy calves. It has two pillars: the development of digestive function in calves, and the relationship between intestinal immunity and microorganisms.
*Illustrative imageHow the digestive function of cattle develops
The rumen of a newborn calf is very small and barely functions. The lab aims to clarify, through observation of the body and cell and molecular experiments, the mechanism by which it grows rapidly when the calf begins eating solid feed around weaning.
*Illustrative imageIntestinal immunity and symbiotic microorganisms
Newborn calves have weak immunity and are prone to diarrhea and other illnesses. The lab investigates how antibodies in colostrum act on the gut microbiota, and uses next-generation sequencing to explore how the calf's own intestinal immunity develops and how it relates to gut bacteria.
MembersFaculty
The Suzuki Lab consists of faculty, technical staff, and graduate students.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorYutaka Suzuki
VoicesStudent voices
Compiled from answers by students who were in the lab. Ratings and reviews reflect individual students' experiences, not the lab's official views.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
On a 4-point scale, ● marks where students' answers fall
Who is this lab for?
What's great about this lab?
What did you learn after joining?
What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
Where do graduates go?
RelatedLabs similar to Suzuki Lab
Animal Functional Nutrition LabFaculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal ScienceHerbivore nutrition and gastrointestinal microbiology
Ecosystem Function Lab (Nomura)Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Forest ScienceWatershed water balance and river runoff mechanisms in north…
Makoto's Plant & Soil LabFaculty of Agriculture, Department of Forest ScienceThe inside of the soil is normally invisible to us. Yet even…
Animal Ecology LabFaculty of Agriculture, Department of Bioresource ScienceEvolutionary ecology, population genetics, animal ecologyThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Calf igloos and calves in England” Max Howell / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- How the digestive function of cattle develops: “Calf eating hay” Petr Kratochvil / CC0 (cropped)
- Intestinal immunity and symbiotic microorganisms: “Black and white - geograph.org.uk - 1469279” Eileen Henderson / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab
(動物機能栄養学研究室): “Holstein Friesian cows strip-grazing a turnip field - geograph.org.uk - 5284652” Evelyn Simak / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped) - Related lab (生態系機能分野
（野村睦） ): “Snow forest in Hakodate Nanae Snowpark” 掬茶 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) - Related lab (MAKOTO'S PLANT & SOIL LAB.): “Hokkaido University Research Forest - panoramio” kazppi77 / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab
(動物生態学研究室): “Salvelinus malma malma from Quicksilver Creek” Jim Gaither, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service / Public domain (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.