EGS-ABG : European Graduate School in Animal Breeding and Genetics

PhD projects for 2014

wegsabg — 2013-03-07T17:20:45Z

- PhD projects for 2014

Results of the 2013 applications

Verrier — 2013-02-26T10:12:29Z

A total of 150 applications were received on time, including 109 eligible applicants and 41 non eligible applicants. All applications were evaluated by the Selection Committee, with the help of members of the EGS-ABG Consortium.

The 9 applicants with the highest ranking were proposed for an Erasmus-Mundus PhD fellowship (main list). The reserve list comprises 13 other applicants: if a candidate on the main list drops out, then the candidate with the highest ranking on the reserve list will be moved to the main list, taking into account EU regulations and topics availability.

These lists have been validated by the EACEA (the Agency managing Erasmus-Mundus programs). The PhD projects are scheduled to start on September 2013.

Candidates who were granted a fellowship (sorted by category and alphabetic order)

Cat.	Name	Project	Topic
A	FANG Zih Hua	8-APT-WU	Genomics of bovine milk protein composition
A	LI Bingjie	2-SLU-AU	Genomic and phenotypic indicators of feed efficiency
A	MARJANOVIC Jovana	7-WU-SLU	Genetics of social interactions in Aquaculture
A	MEBRATIE Wossenie	5-AU-WU	Genomics of feed conversion efficiency in poultry
A	ROCHUS Christina	1-SLU-APT	Genetics of coat colour and reproduction traits in sheep
A	ZHANG Qianqian	3-AU-WU	Methods of association study for rare variants using NGS
B	ARYA Anoop	10-APT-WU	Development of an integrative bioinformatic pipeline
B	EYNARD Sonia	6-WU-APT	Genetic erosion and long term genetic improvement
B	XIANG Tao	4-AU-APT	Genomic evaluation with cross-bred and pure-bred animals

Candidates put on the reserve list (sorted by category and order of priority)

Cat.	Name	Project	Topic
A	TEKLEWOLD Grum	9-WU-AU	Fine maping genes for milk composition
A	APU Auvijit	1-SLU-APT	Genetics of coat colour and reproduction traits in sheep
A	KEBEDE Fasel	6-WU-APT	Genetic erosion and long term genetic improvement
A	MARETE Andrew	4-AU-APT	Genomic evaluation with cross-bred and pure-bred animals
A	GEBREMARIAM Worede	6-WU-APT	Genetic erosion and long term genetic improvement
A	ISLAM MD. Rashedul	8-APT-WU	Genomics of bovine milk protein composition
A	TESFAMICAEL Kiflu	2-SLU-AU	Genomic and phenotypic indicators of feed efficiency
A	PANDUPUSPITASAR Nuruliariziki	8-APT-WU	Genomics of bovine milk protein composition
A	TUFA Solomon	1-SLU-APT	Genetics of coat colour and reproduction traits in sheep
A	HE Yao	6-WU-APT	Genetic erosion and long term genetic improvement
B	VAN ENGELEN Sabine	1-SLU-APT	Genetics of coat colour and reproduction traits in sheep
B	SANSEGUNDO ROMERO Maria	1-SLU-APT	Genetics of coat colour and reproduction traits in sheep
B	TRANI HERRERA Erika	7-WU-SLU	Genetics of social interactions in Aquaculture

Genetic control of methane emission, feed efficiency and metagenomics in dairy cattle

deschamps — 2012-11-05T16:02:59Z

Nr: 13-SLU-AU

Topic:
Genetic control of methane emission, feed efficiency and metagenomics in dairy cattle

Host Institutions :
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden)
Aarhus University (Denmark)

Summary:

The focus in this project is on lowering the methane emission from the dairy cattle industry using genetic and genomic tools on data from non-invasive methods. Data will be collected in Danish commercial herds with Automatic milking systems where the cows are individualized. Quantitative genetic analysis and genome wide association studies will be performed on the data in order to estimate genetic variation and to localize genomic regions that contribute to the genetic control of the phenotype. Also focus will be on the genetic background of feed efficiency, milk composition and the genetic relation between feed efficiency and methane emission. These results will be valuable in order to select for lower methane emission from dairy cattle.

Genomics of feed conversion efficiency in poultry

deschamps — 2012-09-18T08:24:08Z

Nr : 5-AU-WU

Topic :
Genomics of feed conversion efficiency in poultry

Host Institutions :
Aarhus University (Denmark)
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)

Summary :
Increase of efficiency in farm animal production is of crucial importance in order to ensure future food security and to ensure future decreases of emissions of climate gases and nutrients from animal production systems. Genetic changes to animal populations using dense genomic markers are currently introducing drastic changes in genetic improvement systems for animals. Feed efficiency traditionally has been a trait that was difficult to change. Use of new marker technology and use several layers of high throughput genetic information forms a basis for developing greatly enhanced genetic improvement programs in poultry and to develop a greater understanding of basic mechanisms regulating feed efficiency in poultry.

Genetics of coat colour and reproduction traits in sheep

deschamps — 2012-09-18T08:23:55Z

Nr : 1-SLU-APT

Topic : Genetics of coat colour and reproduction traits in sheep

Host Institutions :
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden)
AgroParisTech/ INRA - Toulouse (France)

Summary :
The North European short-tailed sheep is a group including a number of breeds spread in Europe and in Russia. The breeds differ with respect to size, fertility, wool type, coat color, and conformation.

This project will take advantage of recordings available in national databases for coat colour and reproduction traits. French, Icelandic and Swedish sheep breeds will be genotyped on a HD SNP chip. An appropriate analysis will be performed to detect selective sweeps. The regions of the genome pointed by the selective sweep analysis will be studied in more detail and candidate genes will be sequenced in a few animals with extreme phenotypes.

Genetics of social interactions in Aquaculture: Increasing uniformity by reducing competition

deschamps — 2012-09-18T08:23:45Z

Nr : 7-WU-SLU

Topic :
Genetics of social interactions in Aquaculture: Increasing uniformity by reducing competition

Host Institutions :
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Sweden)

Summary :
In livestock and aquaculture, there has been a long-standing desire to reduce variability by means of genetic selection. Animal breeders have successfully improved mean levels of trait values, but have struggled to understand, let alone reduce, the variability of trait values among individuals.

This project aims to integrate social interactions and inherited variability, using Nile Tilapia as a focal species, and focussing on growth rate. Our hypothesis is that a reduction in competition by breeding more social individuals will be a promising route towards reducing variability. In this project WU and SLU will cooperate with the WorldFish Center in Penang, Malaysia (WorldFish), who will provide the necessary data and experimental facilities.

Sequence based selection in turkey: Improving performance by removing negative alleles from the population

deschamps — 2012-09-18T08:23:26Z

Nr : 14-WU-APT

Topic :
Sequence based selection in turkey: Improving performance by removing negative alleles from the population

Host Institutions :
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)
AgroParisTech (France)

Summary:
Individual turkey genomes like any other individual animal genome are expected to contain many potential harmful mutations. Although the allele frequency of such variants in the population is expected to be low, combined, several of these variants are expected to have a negative effect on the phenotype. Using different bioinformatics tools you will identify such variants using whole genome sequence data of 150-200 individual birds from different breeding lines. Based on the variants identified, specific experimental crosses will be made to validate a small subset of the identified variants and to evaluate the predicted effects on thephenotype. Within the project you will also explore how best to implement information about potential negative variants in existing breeding programs. Specific attention will be on a combination of genomic selection for random SNPs across the genome and specific functional variants.

Development of an integrative bioinformatic pipeline: miRNA-mediated regulation of the pig genome in disease

deschamps — 2012-09-18T08:18:32Z

Nr : 10-APT-WU

Topic :
Development of an integrative bioinformatic pipeline: miRNA-mediated regulation of the pig genome in disease

Host Institutions :
AgroParisTech (France)
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)

Summary :
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) repress the expression levels of genes by binding to mRNA transcripts. Polymorphisms in either the miRNA or its gene target sequence may significantly impact on expression patterns and lead to altered phenotypes. The aim of this project is to develop a bioinformatic "integrative pipeline" coupling miRNA gene target predictions to genetic and genomic data from the swine genome generated by previous studies. Focusing on a major swine viral disease (case study) will allow testing the pipeline in a defined biological context. The results of this work will foster the efficient use of several existing genomic datasets to assess the impact of genome regulation mediated by miRNAs on major livestock phenotypes.

Fine maping genes for milk composition

deschamps — 2012-09-18T08:15:10Z

Nr : 9-WU-AU

Topic :
Fine maping genes for milk composition

Host Institutions :
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)
Aarhus University (Denmark)

Summary :
The value of bovine milk for human consumption and technological properties of milk are mainly determined by milk composition. The Netherlands and Denmark have large on-going research projects on the genetics of milk composition. These projects have shown that there is considerable genetic variation in milk composition. Part of this genetic variation can be attributed chromosomal regions, however, it is unknown which genes are responsible.

This project will focus on fine mapping of chromosomal regions, with the ultimate goal to identify genes responsible for the observed genetic variation in milk composition. For this purpose we will combine genotypes and phenotypes from the Dutch and the Danish-Swedish Milk Genomics Initiative to perform across-breed association studies. Furthermore, whole genome sequence data will be generated to identify causative mutations.

Genomics of bovine milk protein composition

deschamps — 2012-09-18T08:11:33Z

Nr : 8-APT-WU

Topic :
Genomics of bovine milk protein composition

Host Institutions :
AgroParisTech (France)
Wageningen University (The Netherlands)

Summary :
The purpose of this project is to explore milk protein composition across some European dairy cattle breeds (Dutch Holstein-Friesian, French Normandes and Montbeliardes) genetically well-characterized, using different proteomic methods (Capillary electrophoresis, RP-HPLC, MS), to identify extreme phenotypes and therefore opportunities to tailor the protein composition of milks to dairy industry requirements and to the consumer demand. The approach will combine genome information (High density SNP-genotyped, re-sequencing), gene expression data (through non invasive RNA sampling from milk) and phenotypes (detailed milk protein composition) to go further in the understanding of molecular mechanisms that determine the milk protein composition.