Maria Martinez Castillero

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My main research is on black soldier fly breeding and genetics and associated data science solutions.

Goals:

• Contribute to the development and implementation of data systems for breeding

• Develop and deploy genetic evaluation methods

• Optimise breeding programme and breeding operations.

I am from Zaragoza, a beautiful city in Spain, where I did my bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine. I did my last year of the degree abroad, in Hanover, Germany, where I specialised in animal production. Once I finished my studies, I did a master’s degree in animal science at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. During the master’s degree, I discovered my interest in quantitative genetics and data analysis. During that time I did an internship in the Pig Research Centre, where I worked on piglet mortality. I spent many hours learning how to program, and I enjoyed it very much. I decided to continue in the Research Centre for my master’s thesis. Then I moved to the University of Padova, Italy, to do a PhD in quantitative genetics. I moved from working in pigs to working in dairy cattle. During the PhD, I had the opportunity to do a research period abroad. I spent eight months working at the Michigan State University, US, where my interest in programming and data science grew exponentially. Once I completed the PhD, I moved back to Spain, to work at the university on a project about genomics in beef cattle. I came across a job position in insect breeding at Roslin, and I applied without hesitation. I was thrilled when I got the job offer, and I decided to pack for the fifth time and move to Scotland!

• Books, comics, and movies
• Weightlifting and CrossFit
• My dog.