Source: NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV submitted to
ESTABLISHMENT OF A GRADUATE TRAINING PROGRAM TO MEET THE FUTURE NEEDS OF FOOD ANIMAL QUANTITATIVE GENETICS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0224091
Grant No.
2011-38420-30000
Project No.
NC08017
Proposal No.
2010-03352
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
KK
Project Start Date
Jan 1, 2011
Project End Date
Dec 31, 2015
Grant Year
2011
Project Director
See, M. T.
Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695
Performing Department
Animal Science
Non Technical Summary
A critical need exists to increase the number of graduate students being trained in the integrated fields of statistics, quantitative genetics, bioinformatics and traditional animal breeding (modern quantitative genetics). A shift in priorities for extramural funding to molecular genetics in the 1990s combined with declining state support for agricultural research led to a dramatic decline in the number of students trained in food animal quantitative genetics. While a similar trend was observed in traditional plant breeding, the ability to patent lines of seed seems to have resulted in greater opportunities for industry support of plant breeding graduate programs. Regardless, a clear need exists in both the plant and animal breeding industries. Eisen (2008) described four action steps to address the current shortage of students capable of integrating the fields of statistics, quantitative genetics, bioinformatics and traditional animal breeding: 1) increase public funding; 2) increase industry support for graduate training; 3) prepare undergraduate students for graduate study; 4) successfully recruit the best and brightest students which requires funding for stipends, research, and recruitment. In addition, Dechow (2008) discussed the value of study abroad experiences as a part of graduate training and the benefits of partnerships among industry professionals and university faculty for exposing students to practical industry research needs. North Carolina State University (NCSU) has a long and sustained track record of successfully training students in the fields of animal breeding, quantitative genetics, and statistics. Faculty at NCSU are well prepared to educate and train students in preparation for professional careers in food animal genetics. Funding to support graduate stipends when combined with our ongoing research efforts and industry stakeholder relationships provide the resources necessary to meet this shortage. This proposal capitalizes on our internationally respected faculty and close ties to industry stakeholders which are well represented by our adjunct faculty members at Newsham Choice Genetics, PIC, and Smithfield Premium Genetics. Collectively these companies influence the genetics of over 80% of all pigs slaughtered in the United States. NCSU is also home to the Dairy Records Management System (DRMS) which processes data for over 60% of all dairy cows in the United States. Additionally, we will partner with North Carolina A&T State University to identify fellows from traditionally underrepresented groups. We expect the four graduates of this program to hold leadership positions throughout the swine, poultry, and dairy industries, academia, and government.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
90360993020100%
Knowledge Area
903 - Communication, Education, and Information Delivery;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
The goal of the Animal Breeding Fellows program is to increase the number of students being trained in modern quantitative genetics. We are confident in this assertion because the single biggest limiting factor preventing the training of more students is the availability of funding to support graduate student stipends. Limited financial support makes it difficult for faculty to aggressively recruit the most talented students. This problem is magnified when recruiting students from traditionally underrepresented groups. Objectives (timeline): 1) recruit two doctoral students and two masters students to the program with emphasis on multicultural diversity (year 1); 2) develop core competences (years 2 - 4); 3) mentor students in design and execution of industry relevant research (years 2 - 5); 4) provide training for effective communication (years 3 - 5); 5) enhance global consciousness. Approach - We will: 1) use both indirect and direct recruitment strategies including partnering with NC A&T University Department of Animal Science; 2) provide a cross-disciplinary curriculum integrating courses in quantitative genetics, statistics, animal breeding, bioinformatics, and bioethics; 3) organize collaborative research and summer internships in partnership with industry stakeholders; 4) directly involve students in development of educational materials for eXtension and distance education courses; 5) provide interaction with faculty and students from other cultures, and IRTA funding is requested for two Ph.D. students. The outcome will be 4 highly trained professionals prepared to increase global food availability through food animal genetic improvement. This is relevant to the USDA Strategic Goal of "Highly trained college graduates in the food and agricultural sciences who are globally experienced in applied research and extension and are representative of American's cultural and ethnic diversity".
Project Methods
NC State University is nationally recognized for graduate training in quantitative genetics, animal breeding, statistics, and bioinformatics. We will leverage our existing strengths to provide an integrated graduate training program for the TESA - Animal and Plant Production - Integrated fields of quantitative genetics, statistics, computational biology, and breeding. Students will: 1) complete a cross-disciplinary curriculum integrating quantitative genetics, statistics, bioinformatics, and animal breeding; 2) interact with adjunct faculty members currently employed in the food animal industry; 3) develop, complete, and publish novel research with direct industry relevance and collaboration; 4) complete course work in personal development and ethics; 5) obtain relevant industry experience through completion of a cooperative internship with an industry partner; 6) develop teaching skills through teaching workshops, courses, and direct classroom involvement. The unique features of training and learning in the NCSU Animal Breeding Fellows program include the required engagement with agricultural production, engagement with animal industries, and learning methods to extend research results to production agriculture. The outcome assessment for this program will include: 1. Number of Fellows completing a comprehensive graduate program encompassing animal breeding, genetics, statistics, genomics and bioinformatics. 2. Number of Fellows completing a 10 week internship program in an production agriculture setting. 3. Number of Fellows will completing Introduction to Research Ethics. 4. Number of Fellows completing Preparing for the Professoriate. 5. Number of Fellows completing a course in extension and engagement methods. 6. Number of Fellows conducting research relevant to enhancing animal agriculture and the supply and safety of food. 7. Number of Fellows conducting an extension and engagement program to deliver their research results to producers in NC and the US. 8. Number of Fellows engaging with state and national commodity associations in their interest area to understand competitive issues facing food animal producers

Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:The two doctoral Animal Breeding Fellows, Emily Cook Kennedy and Jeremy Howard continued to be mentored and guided to attain the core competencies necessary for solving complex problems facing modern quantitative genetics. This included a combination of 1) traditional course work in a curriculm inegrating cross-disciplinary competencies in statistics, bioinformations, animal breeding, quantiative genetics and genomics, 2) Jeremy Howard participate in the Graduate Student Professional develoment workshop, 3) they both attended and made research presentations at international meetings including American Society of Animal Science, European Association of Animal Produciton, National Swine Improvement Federation and Midwestern Meeting of the American Scoiety of animal Science, and 4) they continued their innovative research. The Fellows served also as teaching assistants to develop skills in classroom instruction and worked with our industry partners in the dairy and swine industry to enhance their understanding of the application of animal breeding to animal agriculture and learn the challenges being faced by the food animal industry. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Each of the Animal Breeding Fellows: completed a cross-disciplinary curriculum integrating quantitative genetics, statistics, bioinformatics, and animal breeding. was afforded the opportunity to interact with adjunct faculty members currently employed in the food animal industry each fellow was afforded the opportunity to work closely with their species of interest. developed, completed, and published novel research with direct industry relevance and collaborated directly with companies, breed associaitons or organizations. completed course work in personal development and ethics doctoral fellows completed the Graduate Student Professional Devleopment Workshop obtained relevant industry experience through completion of a cooperative internship with an industry partner developed teaching skills through direct classroom involvement serving as teaching assistants for undergraduate courses. Gained extensive training in written and oral communicaiton through our Animal Breeding and Genetics Seminar program and presentations at professional and industry meetings doctoral fellows were afforded the opportunity to look at global animal agriculture in their area of intrest. Jeremy Howard spent one summer semester at the Dairy Futres Cooperative Research Center in Bundoora, Australia, characterizing the inbreeding depression and homozygosity of cattle populations across countries. Emily Kennedy traveled to Poland to study the differences in produciton practices related to the pork industry in Eastern Europe as compared to the United States and also attended the European Association of Animal Production in Warsaw, Poland to interact with geneticists from across Europe. Emily Kennedy was afforded the opportunity to also serve as a Graduate Training Assistant with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Global Development Initiative. In this role she worked with the USDA-FAS Cochran Fellowship program hosting a Dairy Genetics and Management Team from Pakistan and a Swine Production Fellows Team from Vietnam. doctoral fellows have been recognized on campus as leaders: Emily Kennedy has served as the President of the Graduate Student Association and as a member of the Graduate Education Committee. Jeremy Howard served on the organzing committee of the NCSU Graduate Student Research Symposium. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Dissemination to communities of interest The Animal Breeding Fellows attended on average two national/international meeting during each year of their program to present their work. They also presented the results of their research to pork industry stakeholders at NC Pork Day organzied by the NC Cooperative Extension Service, they presented at least one seminar within the department each year, and presented results directly to industry collaborators at their places of business. For her research in the genetics of swine reproduction Emily Kennedy was presented with the Lauren Christian Oustanding Graduate Student Award by the National Swine Improvement Federation and was invited present her research at their annual meeting in December of 2015. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Animal Breeding Fellows program at NC State University has been highly successful in preparing students. Accomplishments under our goals include: 1) recruit two doctoral students and two masters students to the program with emphasis on multicultural diversity. Two doctoral students were awarded Animal Breeding Fellows, Emily Cook Kennedy and Jermey Howard, and have completed four and three years of their doctoral programs respectively. Both of the Fellows have anticipated graduation dates of 2017. One masters student, Kayla Fleetwood Psaros, was awarded her degree in 2013 as an Animal Breeding Fellow. The program allowed for the recruitment of truly high caliber fellows as evidenced by their previous academic success. 2) develop core competences Each of the Animal Breeding Fellows completed a cross-disciplinary curriculum integrating quantitative genetics, statistics, bioinformatics, and animal breeding. In addition, they were afforded the opportunity to interact with adjunct faculty members currently employed in the food animal industry each fellow was afforded the opportunity to work closely with the pork, beef, and/or dairy industry on one or more of their research projects. Emily Cook Kennedy is conducting research relevance to the pork industry, Kayla Fleetwood Psaros in the beef industry, and Jeremy Howard in both the dairy and pork industries. Each of the Animal Breeding Fellows has developed, completed, and published novel research with direct industry relevance and collaborated directly with industry scientiests. Each of the Animal Breeding Fellows has also completed course work in personal development and ethics and both doctoral students have completed the three-day Graduate Student Professional Devleopment Workshop at NCSU. Each Fellow has also obtained relevant industry experience through completion of a cooperative internship with an industry partner. Fellows also developed teaching skills through direct classroom involvement serving as teaching assistants for undergraduate courses. 3) mentor students in design and execution of industry relevant research; Emily Kennedy is conducting research relevance to the pork industry, Kayla Psaros conducted her research with the beef industry, and Jeremy Howard has conducted rsearch with relevance to both the dairy and pork industries. Each of the Animal Breeding Fellows has developed, completed, and published novel research with direct industry relevance and collaborated directly with industry scientiests. 4) provide training for effective communication Through our Animal Breeding and Genetics Seminar program each student was trained in effective oral communication and has subsequently presented their research at both professional scientific meetings and to industry stakeholders. 5) enhance global consciousness. The two doctoral fellows were afforded the opportunity to look at global animal agriculture in the area of intrest. Jeremy Howard spend one summer semester at the Dairy Futres Cooperative Research Center in Bundoora, Australia, characterizing the inbreeding depression and homozygosity of cattle populations across countries. Emily Kennedy traveled to Pland to study the differences in produciton practices related to the pork industry in Easter Europe as compared to the United States and also attended the European Association of Animal Production in Warsaw, Poland to interact with geneticists from across Europe. The global experience greatly broadened the view of both fellows.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Howard, J.T., M. Haile-Mariam, J.E. Pryce and C. Maltecca. Investigation of regions impacting inbreeding depression and their association with the additive genetic effect for United States and Australia Jersey dairy cattle. BMC Genomics (2015) 16:813. DO 10.1186/s12864-015-2001-7
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Howard, J.T., A.T. O'Nan, C. Maltecca, R.E. Baynes and M.S. Ashwell. 2015. Differential gene expression across breed and sex in commercial pigs administered Fenbendazole and Flunixin Megulmine. PLoS One, 10(9).
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Howard, J. T., Jiao, S. H., Tiezzi, F., Huang, Y. J., Gray, K. A., and Maltecca, C. (2015). Genome-wide association study on legendre random regression coefficients for the growth and feed intake trajectory on Duroc Boars. BMC Genetics, 16.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Howard, J. T., Haile-Mariam, M., Pryce, J. E., & Maltecca, C. (2015). Investigation of regions impacting inbreeding depression and their association with the additive genetic effect for United States and Australia Jersey dairy cattle. BMC Genomics, 16.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Fleetwood, K., G. Hansen, T. Smith, J. Parish and J.P. Cassady. 2013 The effects of winter hair coat shedding of Angus dams on adjusted weaning weight of calves. J. Anim. Sci. Vol. 91, E-Suppl. 2/J. Dairy Sci. Vol. 96, E-Suppl. 1 p. 67.
  • Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2013 Citation: Psaros, K.M. (Fleetwood). 2013. Heritability of Hair Coat Shedding Scores in Angus dams and the Relationship with PreWeaning Growth in their Calves. Master of Science Thesis., North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2014 Citation: Merrill, M., J. Howard, C. Maltecca and R. Baynes. 2014. Effects of breed and sex on liver gene expression and pharmacokinetic parameters in pigs. PAG, January 11-15, 2014 San Diego, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2014 Citation: Howard, J., M. Ashwell, R. Baynes, J. Brooks, J. Yeatts, B. Bellis,P. Routh and C. Maltecca. 2014 The effect of breed and sex on drug depletion and differential gene expression associated with drug metabolism after Fenbendazole and Flunixin administration. PAG, January 11-15, 2014 San Diego, CA.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Genetic selection and mating strategies to improve the well-being and efficiency of dairy cattle C. Maltecca, J.T, Howard, J.E. Pryce, M. Haile-Mariam, AABG Meeting Lorne VIC N/A Australia Start Date: 9/28/2015
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Maltecca, C, Howard, J Computational biology group DEDJTR Melbourne VIC N/A Australia Start Date: 08/17/15
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Kennedy, E. 2015 Developing new strategies to improve reproductive efficiency. Proceedings of the National Swine Improvement Federation, December 3-4, 2015. Nashville TN.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Cook, E.B., W.L. Flowers and M.T. Knauer. 2015 Relationships between nursery stocking density and feeder space allowance with subsequent gilt estrous characteristics. J. Anim. Sci. Vol. 93, Suppl. s3/J. Dairy Sci. Vol. 98, Suppl. 2 p 252.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Cook, E.B., W.L. Flowers and M.T. Knauer. 2015 Relationships between nursery stocking density and feeder space allowance with gilt growth performance. J. Anim. Sci. Vol. 93, Suppl. s3/J. Dairy Sci. Vol. 98, Suppl. 2 p 252.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Howard, J.T., C. Maltecca, M. Haile-Mariam, B.J. Hayes and J.E. Pryce. 2015 Distribution of runs of homozygosity and its association with inbreeding depression in United States and Australian Jersey Cattle. J. Anim. Sci. Vol. 93, Suppl. s3/J. Dairy Sci. Vol. 98, Suppl. 2 p 840.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2014 Citation: Cook, E. 2014. An open discussion on selection strategies to increase the number of quality weaned pigs - Industry trends in reproduction. Proceedings of the National Swine Improvement Federation, December 4-5, 2014. Clay Center, NE.


Progress 01/01/11 to 12/31/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: Two doctoral fellowships have been awarded and students have been their programs of study. A third student has been recruited for Fall 2013 enrollment. PARTICIPANTS: M. Todd See, PD Joe Cassady, PI Christian Maltecca, PI Kayla Fleetwood, doctoral fellow Emily Cook, doctoral fellow TARGET AUDIENCES: Graduate student training in food animal genetics PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Students are being trained to fill a critical need in food animal quantitative genetics.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period