Bridging Genomes to Phenomes: Fostering interdisciplinary expertise to advance animal production

Recipient Organization
VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
(N/A)
BLACKSBURG,VA 24061

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
The increasing demand for animal protein in the United States and worldwide is a challenge requiring interdisciplinary solutions to achieve significant progress. We propose an interdisciplinary training program at the doctoral level for three outstanding USDA Fellows in the "Genome to Phenome" theme. Our program is innovative because it will combine complementary expertise from three program directors to train the Fellows to have depth and breadth of knowledge in Genomics, Data Science, and Biotechnology under the umbrella of Animal Science. Our overarching goal is to mentor three outstanding graduate students toward completing their doctoral degree and placement in leadership positions in industry or research in Animal Science and Production. We propose a multi-layered mentoring that will allow the Fellows to gain hands-on experience in all three areas of expertise of the program directors and attain broad interdisciplinary competencies that intersect all three research areas. Beyond the research, the fellows will receive training to develop critical competencies that include peer-based learning and teaching, classroom teaching, and research communication. Significant outcomes are the training and graduation of three outstanding Fellows in three years, increased representation of minority groups in leadership positions in Animal Production, and presentations and peer-reviewed manuscripts from the Fellow's research. Our project is highly relevant to the Objective 4.1 of the newly released "USDA Science and Research Strategy, 2023-2026"-"Genomics and Genome Editing: Determine the DNA sequences of ... animal genomes and ... apply molecular biology techniques, such as genome editing ... to improve sustainability through research..."

Animal Health Component

(N/A)

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

(N/A)

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
301	3310	1030	16%
301	3410	1050	16%
303	3410	1080	16%
303	3310	1080	16%
304	3310	1050	16%
304	3410	1040	20%

Knowledge Area
303 - Genetic Improvement of Animals; 304 - Animal Genome; 301 - Reproductive Performance of Animals;

Subject Of Investigation
3310 - Beef cattle, live animal; 3410 - Dairy cattle, live animal;

Field Of Science
1040 - Molecular biology; 1030 - Cellular biology; 1080 - Genetics; 1050 - Developmental biology;

Keywords

interdisciplinary training

Goals / Objectives
The increasing demand for animal protein in the United States and worldwide is a challenge requiring interdisciplinary solutions to achieve significant progress. We propose an interdisciplinary training program at the doctoral level for three outstanding USDA Fellows in the "Genome to Phenome" theme. Our specific objectives are:1- To recruit three outstanding doctoral students and provide interdisciplinary training in disciplines encompassing the "Genome to Phenome" research area.2- Mentor three exceptional doctoral students to achieve 100% graduation of the Fellows and increase graduation in our program.3- Pipeline three outstanding Fellows into the workforce in management or leadership positions in food and agricultural sciences in support of the Targeted Expertise Shortage Area (TESA) of Animal Production.

Project Methods
Efforts: Three fellowswill be recruited for the doctoral program following a national search for highly qualified students committed to pursuing a career in animal production. These students will be mentored by three faculty members with support from the Office of Graduate Program and the Graduate School at Virginia Tech. In addition to the mentioning, the students will attend formal classroom instruction, hands-on experiential learning, attend workshops to advance their leadership and communication skills, and attend national scientific conferences, among other activities.Evaluation: We will evaluate the progress of the program yearly. The academic, scientific and professional progress of each student will also be evaluated yearly.

Progress 11/15/23 to 11/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Our efforts were mainly directed at recruiting graduate students for the program. We targeted diverse audiences using multiple email listservs to disseminate the opportunities, which included department heads, animal genomes, and relevant societies (Animal Sciencesand Study of Reproduction). We also disseminated the information using social media and websites. Changes/Problems:One major change to report is that one of the co-program directors will relocate his program to another university in January. We will seek an extension to start the third student. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In their first semester, students received training in laboratory techniques, data collection, record keeping, andstatistical analysis. Two studentsalso started training inscientific writingand preparingscientific presentations for academic audiences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to recruit a third student to enter the program and initiate his/her training. We also plan to continue student training and professional development, which will include participation in scientific meetings of the pertinent society.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1 - To recruit three outstanding doctoral students and provide interdisciplinary training in disciplines encompassing the "Genome to Phenome" research area. We have recruited two outstanding students who enrolled inour Graduate School at Virginia Tech. One student enrolled in the doctoral program in the School of Animal Sciences, and another enrolled in the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Genetics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology.

Publications