AAABG 2025 would like to thank our Invited Speakers for taking part in our Conference program. Ngā mihi nui to our Conference speakers!
Alison Van Eenennaam
Alison Van Eenennaam is a Distinguished Professor of Cooperative Extension in the field of Animal Genomics and Biotechnology in the Department of Animal Science at the University of California, Davis where she has been on faculty for over 20 years. She received a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from the University of Melbourne, and both an MS in Animal Science, and a PhD in Genetics from UC Davis. Her research and outreach program focuses on the use of animal genomics and biotechnology in livestock production systems. She has a multifaceted research program that includes work on the uses of DNA information and biotechnologies in beef cattle production systems, and the development of genome editing approaches for cattle and sheep. She has given over 800 invited presentations to audiences globally and uses a variety of media to inform general public audiences about science and technology. A passionate advocate of science, Dr. Van Eenennaam is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, was the recipient of the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) 2014 Borlaug Communication Award, and the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) 2019 Rockefeller Prentice Award in Animal Breeding and Genetics.
Ignacy Misztal
Ignacy Misztal is D.W. Brooks Distinguished Professor of Animal Breeding and Genetics at the University of Georgia. He is a native of Poland.<br /><br />Dr. Misztal main research is in genetic evaluation methodology and computational strategies that improve livestock production and sustainability. He pioneered single-step GBLUP - a method to consider genomic, pedigree and phenotypic information jointly; this method become the standard in the field. Software programs developed by his lab have been used by researchers in at least 50 countries and have become the backbone for the genetic evaluation programs of some of the largest animal genetics companies and breed associations in the world.<br /><br />Dr. Misztal has been involved in many other projects relevant to animal breeding. He pioneered a novel method to evaluate animals for heat tolerance using special models with data from public weather stations. He worked on genetics of fertility and mortality across species, and on implementation of a multibreed model in beef. Lately his work has focused on current issues such as sources of spurious signals in genome wide association studies, potential negative effects of genomic selection, estimation of genetic parameters from national data sets, and genetic selection for resilience.<br /><br />Dr. Misztal has published 302 refereed journal papers, delivered over 170 invited talks in 34 countries, and has taught 35 short courses in 20 countries on 6 continents. His research has attracted over $16 million in extramural funding and is critical to the dairy, beef, pig, and poultry industries globally. His awards include J. L. Lush (ADSA), Rockefeller Prentice (ASAS), Research (NAAB), Pioneer (BIF), and D.W. Brooks (Research, Global Programs, Distinguished Professor -- CAES UGA).
Jane Symonds
Dr Jane Symonds is a Senior Aquaculture Scientist and Leader of the Finfish and Genetics Team at the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, New Zealand. Dr Symonds has over 30 years of experience in aquaculture breeding and genetics and has worked on multiple finfish and shellfish selective breeding programmes in New Zealand, Canada and Australia. This included establishing and managing the first commercial family-based selective breeding programme for all-female Chinook salmon in New Zealand in 1994. Dr Symonds co-led the Atlantic Cod Broodstock Development Programme, a Genome Canada funded programme to establish selective breeding and genomics resources for Atlantic cod.<br /><br />She is currently leading the "Climate Adapted Finfish" MBIE Endeavour research programme at the Cawthron to understand the main drivers behind temperature tolerance in Chinook salmon and snapper. This programme involves developing genomic resources and assessing the potential for genomic selection for improved temperature tolerance.<br /><br />She is an Adjunct Senior Researcher at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia and is actively collaborating with researchers at multiple Universities, including PhD student supervision. Dr Symonds is also a member of the FAO’s Advisory Working Group on Aquatic Genetic Resources and Technologies.<br /><br />From 2007 to 2015 Dr Symonds led the "Breeding and genetic technologies" programme, at the Bream Bay Aquaculture Park operated by NIWA. This programme developed broodstock management protocols for new species such as hapuku, yellowtail kingfish, and paua. Dr Symonds has a PhD in molecular population genetics from the Australian National University and has published over 85 papers, predominantly on aquaculture breeding and genetics and fish physiology and health.
