Susan MacMillan tells us more about the new direction of genomics science at ILRI.
A few years ago, with the tremendous advances in gene technologies, a new kind of geneticist began to appear at ILRI, one that more resembles Hans Solo than Indiana Jones. These researchers are taking ‘whole systems’ approaches to the ‘livestock genetics’ field (a branch of knowledge that, like those temples Indiana Jones obsesses about, can appear of largely historical interest). These new geneticists are ambitiously adding environmental genetics (soil microbes, wildlife species…) to their livestock, parasite and human targets of interest. They’re interested in the WHOLE picture—and they claim they have the tools to productively investigate this brave new world of ‘landscape genomics’.
Much more where that came from…