Genetics, Breeding, & Animal Health Site Logo
ARS Home About Us Helptop nav spacerContact Us En Espanoltop nav spacer
Printable VersionPrintable Version     E-mail this pageE-mail this page
Agricultural Research Service United States Department of Agriculture
Search
  Advanced Search
 
Programs and Projects
Subjects of Investigation
 

Title: CHALLENGES OF BEEF CATTLE GENETICS RESEARCH

Author

Submitted to: John M. Airy Beef Cattle Symposium: Visions for Genetics and Breeding
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: June 1, 2003
Publication Date: June 20, 2004
Citation: Kappes, S.M. 2004. Challenges of beef cattle genetics research. In: Proceedings of the John M. Airy Beef Cattle Symposium: Visions for Genetics and Breeding, May 15-17, 2003, Iowa State University, Ames. AgBiotechNet Proceedings 004 Paper 7, pp 1-3. Available: http://www.agbiotechnet.com/proceedings/June2004/airybeef.asp

Interpretive Summary: The current environment of the animal agriculture industry and animal agriculture research is changing and there are many challenges. The cattle research community will need to work collaboratively across public and privately funded institutions. It will be advantageous to communicate an organized plan to obtain funding for large, multi-institutional research projects. We will need to build multi-disciplinary research teams to fully utilize all the information to develop solutions for the industry. Training future research scientists will require that they have a broad understanding in traditional quantitative genetics research and molecular genetics and bioinformatics. The geneticist of tomorrow will need to communicate very well with biologists from the animal sciences to the biomedical sciences and understand the nomenclature of the many different fields. The demand for modeling biological systems will greatly increase, and geneticists will be needed to develop these models. Given the current economic situation with almost all universities, it may become more difficult to broadly train the scientists of tomorrow so universities may need to look at more long distance learning opportunities. The geneticist of tomorrow will be required to communicate research results to the cattle producer and agribusinesses that are trying to market the information and new technologies. Despite the many challenges for tomorrow's scientists, there are also unprecedented opportunities, and these opportunities should stimulate many creative energies and provide for very rewarding careers in animal agriculture.

Technical Abstract: The current environment of the animal agriculture industry and animal agriculture research is changing and there are many challenges. The cattle research community will need to work collaboratively across public and privately funded institutions. It will be advantageous to communicate an organized plan to obtain funding for large, multi-institutional research projects. We will need to build multi-disciplinary research teams to fully utilize all the information to develop solutions for the industry. Training future research scientists will require that they have a broad understanding in traditional quantitative genetics research and molecular genetics and bioinformatics. The geneticist of tomorrow will need to communicate very well with biologists from the animal sciences to the biomedical sciences and understand the nomenclature of the many different fields. The demand for modeling biological systems will greatly increase, and geneticists will be needed to develop these models. Given the current economic situation with almost all universities, it may become more difficult to broadly train the scientists of tomorrow so universities may need to look at more long distance learning opportunities. The geneticist of tomorrow will be required to communicate research results to the cattle producer and agribusinesses that are trying to market the information and new technologies. Despite the many challenges for tomorrow's scientists, there are also unprecedented opportunities, and these opportunities should stimulate many creative energies and provide for very rewarding careers in animal agriculture.

   
 
 
Last Modified: 05/25/2013
ARS Home | USDA.gov | Site Map | Policies and Links 
FOIA | Accessibility Statement | Privacy Policy | Nondiscrimination Statement | Information Quality | USA.gov | White House