Mateja Janes

One project I am currently working on is called 'New Tools for Reducing the Inbreeding Rates in Pedigree Dog Breeds'. We are trying to make genetics more understandable and closer to the breeders by providing them with accurate information about dogs registered in The Kennel Club to help them achieve their own personal objectives while at the same time looking after the genetic health of the breed as a whole.

Another project I work on, 'The Sitka Spruced', aims to create novel capacity to increase the rates of genetic gain in the UK’s Sitka Spruce breeding programme.

Goals:

• Examine the overall usage of KC tool Mate Select over 7 years following its release in 2011, with focus on requests for information on kinship in proposed matings
• Develop large-scale genotyping capacity, a genetic linkage map for Sitka spruce, and large training set for predictive genomics model development
• Investigate issues of genomic prediction accuracy, models for both yield and wood quality traits, genotype imputation, resistance to damaging insects.

I completed BS in Animal Science and MS in Genetics and Animal Breeding at the Faculty of Agriculture University of Zagreb in Croatia, where I started my PhD in Agricultural Sciences. During my PhD I worked at the same faculty mainly on topics related to beekeeping and cynology. As a PhD student scholar I spent three years at the Department of Animal Science at Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, with focus on canine population genetics.

I am specifically interested in:

Programming language and software:

Dogs:

I would describe myself as a dog person because I adore basically anything related to dogs from dog shows, dog trainings, dog grooming to dog genetics. I have a six-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel bitch Wendy, with whom I have passed some basic dog training tests.

Music:

Another love of my life is music in any shape and form. I love quality music and I can probably find some songs I would love in any music genre, although I prefer rock music. I used to sing in a choir as a child, but then I started dancing in school for ballroom and Cuban dances which was the next way to express my love for music.