Summary
Dr Andrew Hess is a new faculty member at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has experience in developing bioinformatics pipeline for big data analysis, including processing and analysing sequence data for genomic selection and to identify genetic markers that can be useful to their respective industries. Adopting new technologies is something that he is passionate about, and he has been involved in project focused on developing methods to utilize real-time long-read sequencing technologies for high-throughput use in the livestock industry and adapting digital agriculture tools (e.g., accelerometers and GPS collars) for large-scale use to develop traits for genetic improvement.
Dr Hess has performed ground-breaking research in a variety of species including sheep, goats, pigs, deer, cattle and Greenshell mussels. He places heavy emphasis on research that can be delivered directly to industry.
Current Projects Include:
- Novel trait development for improving performance in rangeland livestock
- Utilizing GPS data
- High-throughput phenotyping
- Methods for Genomic Prediction and GWAS incorporating
- CNVs
- Methylation
- Genotype uncertainty in sequence data
- Pangenome development in sheep
- Implementation of genomic selection in sheep
Dr Hess will be teaching two courses:
- Animal Breeding and Genetics
- Statistical Analysis of -Omics Data
