Susan J. Lamont, PhD - Dr. Lamont coordinates the work conducted at ISU, and is the program lead: maintaining unique inbred lines of chickens to generate chicks for experiments conducted at ISU and UCD, conducting NDV-challenge experiments at ISU and collecting physiological measurements and biological samples from the experiments, isolating high-quality mRNA and gDNA from samples, transcriptomic and high-density SNP data generation, statistical and bioinformatic analysis of transcriptomic data, and training of personnel technical procedures in Ghana, Tanzania, and at ISU; and produces reports and manuscripts. Dr. Lamont has over three decades of research experience on genetics, genomics, immunology and disease resistance in chickens, with most of the focus on elucidating the genetic control of innate resistance to disease. She has experience in all aspects of the research program, including pathogen challenges and genomic analyses, and has published over 160 peer-reviewed papers. Additionally, Dr. Lamont has extensive administrative and project management experience, having served as Program Director of the Midwest Poultry Research Consortium, Assistant Director of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, and Head of the Department of Animal Science at ISU.
Jack Dekkers, PhD - Dr. Dekkers will conduct the quantitative genetic and genome-wide association analyses, analyses to choose SNPs to include on the low-density SNP panel, and development of strategies for implementation of results in the field. He will also contribute to the writing of reports and manuscripts. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Dekkers has established himself as an international research leader in animal breeding and genetics. His research focuses on the integration of molecular and quantitative genetics to advance genetic improvement of livestock. He also has an outstanding reputation in education and has given post-graduate courses in Australia, Canada, and Europe. During his career, Dekkers has established and conducted highly productive research programs in a number of key areas in animal breeding and genetics. Although most of his current research focuses on pigs, he has also conducted extensive research on the use of high-density SNP panels and genomic selection in chickens.