Professor Claire Wade will be giving a talk at BioInfoSummer 2015, she gave us an insight into her field of work.
What do you think are the most interesting “big questions” in your field?
I am a mammalian genome scientist. Personally, I am fascinated by how the genome can transmit intrinsic behaviours. Why do sheep dogs herd and pointers point? How do young Tasmanian devils know to climb for the teat?
Please tell us about your research interests and what you are currently working on.
My research interests span areas ranging from the nature of genetic diversity in dogs and dingoes, to mapping disorder genes to create genetic tests to prevent inherited diseases in dogs and horses.
Do you have favourite applications of your work and what is the impact of these applications?
I love it when my research has a practical application, particularly one that saves animal lives.
Why did you chose this career?
I always loved having pet animals, and later competing with my horse and breeding budgerigars. My high school biology teacher Mrs Quinn inspired my love of genetics. I was thrilled to be able to combine my love of animals and nature with my scientific curiosity relating to inheritance.
Can you tell us about the highlight of your career so far?
Leading the horse genome project is without question the highlight, but being involved in the Mouse genome project was also wonderful as it was a very new and exciting time for genomics.