Fish Farms, Male Fertility and Angus Cattle — Genetic Innovations of the Present and Future

Could the epigenetics of a male sperm cell tell us anything about cow herd fertility? What advancements in the aquiculture industry could be applied to the beef business? Two scientists give an outside perspective on how technology is shaping improvements in everything from patient care to feeding a growing world population. They share challenges that sound familiar, such as barriers to data collection and applying genetic tools across diverse production environments. This episode is meant to stretch perspectives by showing what is, what could be, and cautions and encouragement for the future.

HOSTS: Miranda Reiman and Kelli Retallick-Riley, president, Angus Genetics Inc.

GUESTS:
Debbie Plouffe, co-founder and vice president of business development-genetics for the Center for Aquaculture Technologies (CAT). The full-service R&D company helps improve productivity, efficiency, and sustainability in the aquaculture industry. 

Debbie graduated with a bachelor's in invertebrate biology and a doctorate in physiology and cell biology from the University of Alberta, and she’s held leadership roles at the National Research Council (NRC) and AquaBounty Technologies. There she contributed to the regulatory approval of the world’s first genetically engineered food animal, the AquAdvantage salmon. She’s now based at CAT’s San Diego, Calif., office, working with collaborators across the globe on genetic improvement in fish. 

Kristin Brogaard, chief scientific officer and co-founder of Inherent Biosciences, leads the design and execution studies that validate their products that focus on using epigenetic discoveries to answer unexplained medical conditions. Currently much of her work focuses on the DNA methylation patterns associated with male infertility.

Kristin received her doctorate in molecular biology from Northwestern University, where she developed a novel epigenetic technology that allowed for single-base pair resolution mapping of DNA binding proteins genome-wide. She did postdoctoral work with Leroy Hood, a pioneer in personalized medicine technologies, and then served as director of program management for Arivale before joining Inherent Biosciences in 2019. Co-founding the startup allowed Kristin to combine her passion for epigenetics and personalized medicine to help put a stop to trail-and-error medical procedures. 

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