Seeing the future can have its pros and cons. For researchers on the Genome Alberta project to promote adoption of genomic prediction tools in beef cattle, however, catching a glimpse of the future should go a long way to improving beef production efficiency and quality through genomic selection. “Genomic prediction for beef performance starts with predicting breed composition for any cattle in the field, especially crossbred animals,” said Dr. Changxi Li, a research scientist with…

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Seeing the future can have its pros and cons. For researchers on the Genome Alberta project to promote adoption of genomic prediction tools in beef cattle, however, catching a glimpse of the future should go a long way to improving beef production efficiency and quality through genomic selection. “Genomic prediction for beef performance starts with predicting breed composition for any cattle in the field, especially crossbred animals,” said Dr. Changxi Li, a research scientist with…

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While  current events have shone the spotlight on vaccines, pork producers have long known their value when it comes to reducing treatment expense and lost productivity. As scientists work to increase disease resilience in pigs through genomics, a project aimed at predicting vaccine success is a key piece of the puzzle. “This vaccine project came about because vaccine response is variable among pigs, just as it is with people,” said Dr. Peris Munyaka, a Postdoctoral…

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While  current events have shone the spotlight on vaccines, pork producers have long known their value when it comes to reducing treatment expense and lost productivity. As scientists work to increase disease resilience in pigs through genomics, a project aimed at predicting vaccine success is a key piece of the puzzle. “This vaccine project came about because vaccine response is variable among pigs, just as it is with people,” said Dr. Peris Munyaka, a Postdoctoral…

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Encouraging kids to express themselves seems like a good idea…until they actually do it. Gene expression, on the other hand, is all upside without the downside, and is key to success in applying genomics to improve disease resilience and sustainability in Canadian pork production. “When the information stored in our DNA is converted into instructions for making proteins or other molecules, it is called gene expression,” said Dr. Kyu-Sang Lim, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Department of…

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Encouraging kids to express themselves seems like a good idea…until they actually do it. Gene expression, on the other hand, is all upside without the downside, and is key to success in applying genomics to improve disease resilience and sustainability in Canadian pork production. “When the information stored in our DNA is converted into instructions for making proteins or other molecules, it is called gene expression,” said Dr. Kyu-Sang Lim, Post-doctoral Research Associate, Department of…

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Testing for the SARS-CoV-2 virus is vital to public health systems, clinicians, hospitals, and researchers. That means a lot of tests being done every day in every country. Alberta alone is doing almost 10,000 tests a day. If everyone is conducting basically the same test using the same raw materials (such as reagents), shortages are inevitable as medical supply chains struggle to keep up with demand. Even before we got hit with the COVID-19 epidemic…

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Bioinformatics, aka as computational biology, makes it possible for man to learn what could never be known or understood earlier. In this case, the technology makes it possible for an international team of researchers to trace not only the origin but the ancestral tree of the newly discovered coronavirus. It was a massive computational quest with many challenges along the way.    "Coronaviruses have genetic material that is highly recombinant, meaning different regions of the…

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  You may have seen this beautiful and colourful plant on a recent adventure through the forest. It is commonly named ‘paintbrush’ or ‘prairie fire’, the genus is Castilleja, and in July and August it is in full show in the Canadian Rockies (where I took this photo) and, I imagine, throughout the rest of its wide range in North America. After taking this photo at Cold Shoulder, on the trails of the Canmore Nordic…

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A seemingly unlikely trio from the University of Alberta are taking on the misinformation filling up the space around the pandemic. Sean Caulfield is an artist. His brother Tim is the Research Director of the Health Law Institute. Sue Colberg is an Associate Professor of Design Studies.   Together they have started a new art and design project they hope will give people some pause for thought before they hit the retweet or share button.…

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