Award details

UK-India/Africa Joint Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health

Reference	BBS/OS/NW/000015
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Christopher Whitelaw
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	University of Edinburgh
Department	The Roslin Institute
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	250,000
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/08/2015
End date	31/08/2018
Duration	36 months

Abstract

The aim is to establish the UK-India/Africa Joint Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health. The Joint Centre will involve scientists from both the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) new global livestock genetics program (LiveGene) and the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA)-ILRI Hub, with the emerging science base at the National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), and staff of The Roslin Institute, the UK’s leading farm animal genetics Institute. To initiate the Joint Centre, this award will enable joint research projects with input from each of the three institutions, initially focussing on the use of genetic information to improve the health and productivity of farmed animals in tropical climates. Award objectives: to support joint PhD studentships addressing livestock disease; to establish the platform for a sustainable long-term research-base between the three institutions.

Summary

This Newton Fund award to The Roslin Institute is supporting three postgraduate students to pursue their PhD studies at the University of Edinburgh. Two of the students come from India with one from Africa. With the overall goal to contribute to improving livestock and poultry productivity in tropical climates of the world, the projects are aligned with the goals of the Centre for Tropical Livestock Genetics and Health, which is a joint initiative between The Roslin Institute and Scotland’s Rural College in Edinburgh and the international Livestock Research Institute in Nairobi. All three projects address the molecular genetics of the immune response in animals. The students will gain expertise in big data handling and interpretation specifically in DNA sequencing and genomics. The project outputs aim to advance tropical livestock agriculture through providing new tools and knowledge for the selection of genetic traits to improve disease resistance and resilience of cattle and poultry. The individual student projects will provide skills in curation and use of data and bioresources to maximise the impact of new and existing knowledge on tropical livestock genetics and health.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Health
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Newton Fund - Initial Awards (NFIA) [2017]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

I accept the terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)

export PDF file

back to list new search