Jana Obsteter

Visiting researcher

Research at the Highlander Lab

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Highlander Jana

My current area of research lies in the field of animal breeding. I focus on developing practical solutions and improving the efficiency of breeding programmes for dairy cattle and insects. More specifically,

Goals:

  • in dairy breeding, where breeding schemes are well established, we aim to develop sustainable breeding strategies with the use of genomic information for small populations
  • in honeybee breeding, where systematic breeding is in its initial stages, we aim to develop a breeding simulator, test different breeding strategies and design a sustainable breeding programme

Background

I finished BSc in Biotechnology at the University in Ljubljana and MSc in Quantitative Genetics and Genome Analysis with the focus on human genetics at the University of Edinburgh. I obtained PhD in Biosciences at the University of Ljubljana, e-supervised by Gregor Gorjanc. During my studies I gained wet and dry laboratory skills, with the latter including statistical modelling, population modelling, programming, and R-package development.

I am specifically interested in:

  • Designing breeding programmes                                     
  • Population simulation
  • Software development                                         

Programming language and software:

  • R & RStudio                                                                          
  • Python                                                                           

Hobbies and personal interests

All sports, but mostly hiking!

Although not the most coordinated, I love sports in most of its forms. I do recharge best when being outdoors, hence hiking is my absolute favourite. Being rewarded by an amazing view after huffing and puffing for hours is priceless!

Music!

Singing in a choir (and occasionally playing the piano) are my weekdays stress-relievers.