Division of Translational Bioscience

 Sustainable Agriculture

We aim to understand the genetic basis of key production and disease traits in aquatic species towards selective breeding for sustainable aquaculture. 

We contribute to sustainable farming of mammalian, avian and aquatic species through reducing infectious diseases burden with the use of genetic engineering to make animals resistant to different pathogens. 

We harness the potential of animal stem cells to increase animal health and productivity through applications for accelerating genetic gain in livestock, increasing biodiversity, and treating disease in livestock and companion animals. 

We combine cellular agriculture and engineering biology approaches towards improving the sustainability of food production and creating healthier foods.

Infectious Diseases 

We analyse DNA sequences associated with zoonotic diseases in humans, such as influenza and Covid-19, and leverage comparative genetics to identify common disease genes shared between humans and animals.  

Enhancing Health 

Leveraging our unique expertise, infrastructure and resources to understand animal and human health, ageing and disorders. 

We aim to understand, with the aid of farm animal models, the genetic basis of susceptibility to critical illness to inform the identification and validation of drug targets to help humans and animal patients survive and recover. 

We use natural or induced disease large animal models (for example using genetic engineering) as a basis to better understand, diagnose and treat several human diseases, including lung and neurodegenerative disease, for which there is no effective treatment at present.