Research

A full, tenured Professor working in the scientific areas of Genomics/Multiomics, Breeding, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics in the Institute for Animal and Veterinary Sciences (ANIVET) at Aarhus University (AU). I am a Theme group leader for the Theme 5: Digitalization, Data Science & Bioinformatics @ ANIVET. I am an affiliated professor at the Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics, Bioinformatics Research Centre (BiRC) at AU.

I am involved in Research, Innovation, and Education covering my core skills and expertise. My current focus is on applications of my core domain expertise across animal production efficiency and resilience, artificial reproductive technologies such as IVF, animal health and welfare (farm and pet animals, poultry), animal biodiversity and preservation & propogation of genetic resources as well as use of animal models for human health & diseases (e.g. pigs for studying human obesity & diabetes).

Previously I was a tenured, full Professor and Head of the Quantitative Genomics, Bioinformatics and Computational-Systems Biology groups at DTU - Technical University of Denmark, and at UCPH - University of Copenhagen for about 13 years (2010-2024). At DTU, I was a head of the Bioinformatics institute and Head of section of quantitative & systems genomics for ca. 2 years.  On a secondment to a job while being a professor at DTU, I was a Cheif Technology Officer (CTO) and Head of R&D in a portfolio company owned by Grosvenor Food & AgTech group and operated across UK, USA, and Denmark for ca. 3 years.

Prior to Denmark, I was a principal scientist & head of group in CSIRO Australia, Tenure-track Assistant Professor & head of group in ETH Zurich (Switzerland), Cattle Geneticist at SRUC (SAC) Edinburgh, UK and PhD candidate/Research Assistant at the University of Guelph, Canada, with part of PhD research at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. I have veterinary medicine (DVM) and veterinary genetics (MVSc) degrees from India where I practiced as a Veterinarian for a few years before starting my PhD in 1994 in Canada.

All these work experiences amount to 30 + years in 7 countries across 4 continents thus very international and combines academia, government, and industry job functions.

Teaching

I am involved in the new Bachelor and Masters education in Animal science teaching:

1. BSc course (10 ECTS) in Animal Breeding & Reproduction (Spring semesters)

2. MSc course (10 ECTS) in Genomics, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics in Animal Sciences (Spring semesters)

3. MSc course (10 ECTS) in Animal Breeding and Genetics (Autum semesters). 

Besides teaching the above courses, I will be offering summer school courses for PhD students / postdocs.

I am a supervisor / co-supervisor of Masters and PhD students.

Job responsibilities

• Full Professor:  In this role, I develop, run and manage several research projects and consortia and international networks in the fields of Genomics, MultiOmics, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics. My current projects involve multiomics data integration & analyses: combined modelling and analyses of genetics/genomics, nutrigenomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and, metagenomics datasets in conjunction with production/reproduction phenotypes, health/disease outcomes and managemental conditions. I develop and/or use various analytical methods and pipelines recently also including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (AI-ML) methods. I also lead research project in biodiversity / genetic diversity in cattle. I have strong interests and track-record in international collaborative projects and networks as well as industry collaborations. 
• Theme coordinator / leader: I am a theme leader for Theme 5: Digitalization, Data Science & Bioinformatics. Here I work at the institute level, with a co-leader, to bring together interested faculty members to formulate coherent research strategy, joint projects and external stakeholder relations in this domain. 
• Teaching: I am involved in one compulsory Bachelor course (10 ECTS) and two compulsory Masters courses (10+10 ECTS) within Animal Science education.