Macqueen Group, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Current Research Image I am a post-doctoral research fellow on a BBSRC funded consortium project called 'AquaLeap: Innovation in Genetics and Breeding to Advance UK Aquaculture Production'. Within this project, I am: i) leading the assembly and annotation of a new genome resource for the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) using multiple sequencing technologies in collaboration with Dr Tim Bean (Roslin Institute), which will be used to support future breeding programmes and genetic analyses, and ii) testing the importance of structural variants as markers of disease resistance in Atlantic salmon, in collaboration with Prof. Ross Houston and Dr Diego Robledo at the Roslin Institute. I am also in the process of writing up several papers from my PhD research on salmonid genome evolution. Favourite aquaculture species Salmonids and interest towards oysters recently. Passionate towards everything fish! Background My PhD was funded by an Elphinstone Scholarship from the University of Aberdeen, with additional support from the Government of Karnataka, India. I sequenced, assembled and annotated a high-quality draft genome of the Danube salmon (Hucho hucho), a purely freshwater salmonid species, which is a sister lineage to a major clade of anadromous salmonids. The goal was to better understand the role played by whole genome duplication (WGD) in the evolution of salmonid genomes and physiological systems. I was awarded a 1st class MFSc degree in Fish Genetics and Breeding by the Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, India. My master’s research focused on using in silico approaches to identify putative essential genes and therapeutic candidates in the bacterium Aeromonas hydrophila. Before this, I was awarded a 1st class BFSc degree by the College of Fisheries, Mangalore, India wherein I was exposed to various fields of Fisheries Science. I have broad interests spanning of evolutionary genetics, fish genetics, aquaculture and fish breeding. [2009 – 2013] Undergraduate studies (College of Fisheries, KVAFSU, India) [2013 – 2015] Master’s degree (Fish genetics and breeding, CIFE, Mumbai, India) [2015 – 2019] PhD (Biological sciences, University of Aberdeen) [2019 – Present] Postdoctoral researcher (Genetics and genomics, The Roslin Institute) Interests, hopes and dreams I have great interest in ornamental fish keeping and breeding. I love playing basketball and I am a crazy fan of cricket. This article was published on 2024-09-02
