Applications of Genetic and Genomic Technologies in Animal Production

Speaker:  dr Andrzej Sosnicki, Global Technical Projects, US

Talk:  "Applications of Genetic and Genomic Technologies in Animal Production"

Time:  28.10.2022, 9:00 am

Venue:  Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, Abrahama 58, hall 042B

Andrzej Sosnicki received his MS in Biology/Animal Physiology and Ph.D. in Agricultural Sciences/Muscle Biology from the University of Life Sciences in Poznan, Poland. As an Assistant and then Associate Professor he was conducting skeletal muscle physiology and pathology research, and he taught undergraduate and graduate courses at the Department of Zootechnical Sciences.

In 1985 Andrzej relocated to the Muscle Biology & Meat Science Laboratory, University of Wisconsin-Madison where he studied muscle histopathology and meat quality of poultry and red-meat animals. Subsequently, in 1988 he moved to the Department of Zoology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he researched skeletal muscle physiology & locomotion. In 1989 Andrzej  joined the Department of Biology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where he further focused on studying physiological principles of skeletal muscle function during locomotion.

In 1990 Dr. Sosnicki relocated back to Madison, WI where he worked at the R&D Department of Oscar Mayer Foods Corporation (OMFC)/Kraft Foods Corp. At OMFC he was a Manager of the Animal & Poultry Research division directing integrative research focusing on creating value in vertically integrated poultry & pork production and meat processing systems.

In 1995 joined PIC to establish and manage the company’s Muscle Biology Program, emphasizing the commercial importance of pig carcass value in Pig Improvement Company (PIG) genetic improvement program. During his tenure at PIC, he has also developed and managed PIC’s Performance Validation Program, and he has been Director of Genus-PIC Global Technical Services. He has also been responsible for P&L of business accounts in North and Latin America and in the EU. Dr. Sosnicki is currently Director of Global Technical Projects further integrating pig growth and skeletal muscle physiology into the matrix of PIC’s genetic improvement program.

Dr. Sosnicki is the author/co-author of over forty publications, six book chapters and several popular-science articles. He was an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Animal Science of Iowa State University, Ames, IA in 2002-2010, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Animal & Avian Sciences of the University of Maryland, College Park, MD in 2016-2019. He is a reviewer of American Meats Science Association’s ‘Myth Crusher’, Meat Science, Livestock Sciences (also a member of the Editorial Committee), and Journal of Animal Science scientific magazines. He received American Meat Institute Distinguished Extension-Industry Service Award in 2013 and American Meat Science Association’s International Lectureship Award in 2015.

The title of the Seminar “Applications of Genetic and Genomic Technologies in Animal Production” clearly implies that the seminar will primarily focus on the practical aspects of Animal Breeding & Production, although the information will not be all inclusive due to limited time availability. We will discuss the value of animal genetic and genomics tools, computation technology, elite farms housing pure lines, commercial lines, and cross-bred pedigreed populations as the foundation of the best possible rates of genetic improvement.

Today, the global production-to-consumption animal-source food systems are complex, and  meats now are safer, tastier, more nutritious, abundant, diverse, and convenient, and less costly than ever before. Future advancements in genetic and genomic selection will enable implementation of more complex and successful breeding programs further contributing to the success of the modern, sustainable pork production.