Agriculture & Agri-food

The recent advent of sequencing technologies has enabled the generation of a large amount of bee microbiome data from different sources. There is an urgent need for those bee microbiome datasets to be made more accessible so that information can be applied for scientific discoveries and can be translated for stakeholder use. The goal of […]

Campylobacteriosis, an acute intestinal illness and most commonly reported bacterial foodborne infection in Alberta, is caused by Campylobacter jejuni (Cj) through the consumption of contaminated chicken. Decades of research suggest that human infections are a result of a small proportion of high-risk Cj strains in the Canadian chicken supply chain and that these pathogenic strains

Animal resilience directly affects the profitability of livestock production. The goal of this project was to develop tools and methods for selection of pigs that are resilient in the face of multiple natural infections. Analysis of detailed physiology, genomics, and health data of pigs will be analyzed using machine learning technologies. This will allow the

A previous study identified an association between DRGA, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on chromosome 7, and a substantial improvement in fetal viability following PRRSV infection of pregnant dams. This region includes a gene associated with metabolism of a hormone-linked to growth and other processes. Levels of this hormone decrease in fetal and maternal serum

Disease is a major problem in animal production, resulting in reduced performance and animal welfare with rising treatment costs. Genetic selection of pigs that are more resistant and resilient to infection by pathogens is recognized as a promising tool to reduce the impact of disease. The goal of this project is to develop an experimental

Genetic improvement of beef production efficiency and carcass quality is a key strategy to enhance national and international competitiveness and sustainability of beef production. However, the rate of genetic improvement using traditional phenotype and/or pedigree based genetic evaluation and selection has been slow for important beef performance traits that are difficult and expensive to measure

Mastitis is the most frequent and costly disease for dairy producers and is the main reason for antimicrobial use in dairy herds, raising concerns regarding the emergence of antimicrobial resistant pathogens. In this project they will  use state-of-the-art genomics and metagenomics approaches to identify influential members of the mammary gland microbiota with central roles in

Cultivation of opiates, the primary drug used in Western medicine for pain management, occurs primarily outside of North America which can be problematic due to uncertain crop yield. This project aims to use plant-based genomics to establish an alternative bioproduction system for high-value opiates through a reliable, environmentally benign, scalable, and cost-effective yeast fermentation platform.

In wheat, reduced seed yield and quality often occurs due to drought stress resulting in lower germination, net photosynthesis, and biomass. To survive drought stress, plants utilize various physiological responses including those governed by hormonal signaling pathways. The goal of this project is to harness genetic technologies that aim to manipulate hormonal signaling in wheat

Many economically important plant pathogens are airborne, and a growing area of research involves detecting and quantifying these pathogenic organisms in order to facilitate the study of pathogen/disease etiology and epidemiology, and to develop disease forecasting models. The goal of this project was to compare the performance of microscopy and molecular methods including Next Generation