Robert Mukiibi

Current Research

I am currently working in the Roslin Institute'ss lab as a Postdoctoral research fellow in aquaculture genomics (functional and quantitative).

My research relates to the AQUA-FAANG project and focuses on the utilisation of different functional genomics tools (genome wide association studies, transcriptomic studies and epigenomic studies) to characterise the genetic architecture of disease resistance traits in aquaculture species (majorly seabass) with the ultimate aimed of enhancing genomic prediction accuracy for these traits.

Favourite aquaculture species  

Seabass, salmon and tilapia

Background

During my undergraduate studies at the University of Alexandria (Egypt) I worked on animal science, hence my specialisation in animal sciences that included nutrition, health and breed, and genetics of different livestock species. At the end of my undergraduate degree I was greatly fascinated by the application of modern technologies to animal breeding and genetics aimed at improving productivity of livestock animals including fish. I therefore opted for the postgraduate European Masters in Animal Breeding and Genetics (EMABG) at Wageningen University (The Netherlands) and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, where I was introduced to advanced modelling in animal breeding and the practical molecular genetics tools used in breeding and genetics. The two years of study ran fast, and since I found the animal breeding and genetics science compelling, I was further motivated to pursue a PhD in animal science at the University of Alberta (Canada), majoring in bovine genomics and breeding.

During my PhD I worked on identifying genes associated to feed efficiency in beef cattle, and then utilised this functional information to mine genetic markers with potential association to feed efficiency and the related traits in beef cattle. These markers were further used in genomic prediction modelling with the aim of improving the accuracy of feed efficiency and the component traits in beef cattle.

Since November 2019, I work here at the University of Edinburgh as a research fellow in aquaculture genomics. Through the application of different functional genomic tools, we intend to identify potentially functional genetic markers for disease resistance traits in fish; these will be used to enhance genomic estimation accuracy for these traits.

• [2008-2012]          BSc Agriculture (Majoring in Animal Production, Alexandria University)
• [2012-2014]          Masters in Animal Breeding and Genetics (Wageningen University & Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences)
• [2015-2019]          PhD Student, Animal Sciences (University of Alberta)
• [2019-Present]    Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Aquaculture Genomics (The Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh)

Interests, hopes and dreams

I enjoy working on the application of functional genomics and computational biology to characterise different economically important traits in livestock species, as well as applying these tools and next generation sequencing to the genetic improvement of said traits.