Dr. Kraft holds a B.S. in Nutritional Sciences and a Ph.D. in Nutritional Physiology/Lipid Biochemistry from the University of Jena in Germany. After a period of postdoctoral work at both the University of Jena and the Unviersity of Vermont, she joined the Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Kraft's research at the interface of animal science and human nutrition integrates ruminant nutrition and utilization of animal models to determine factors influencing the nutritional quality of ruminant-derived fats/fatty acids and their role in prevention and treatment of the metabolic syndrome. The overall objective of Dr. Kraft's research program is to gain a better understanding of how lipids and bioactive fatty acids influence established and emerging risk factors/biomarkers linked to the metabolic syndrome, especially as it relates to the impact of maternal lipid and fatty acid consumption during pregnancy and lactation as a determinant of lifelong well-being and risk of disease development. Another area of her research includes the lipid and fatty acid analysis of numerous matrices such as oils/fats, feed, food items, tissues/organs, blood components (e.g., plasma, erythrodcyte membranes), and ruminal/intestinal digesta. Current research efforts focus on the analysis of the trans-fatty acid content and profile of food items in a large scale survey to establish a comprehensive database accessible to academia and industry.