Dr Androniki Psifidi’s Veterinary Clinical Genomics group at the RVC aims to dissect the genomic architecture of important animal infectious diseases and zoonoses, as well as improve important production traits to feed the world and increase the sustainability of the agricultural sector. The group's research implement and merge classical quantitative genetics with different omics (genomics, transcriptomics, epigenetics, metagenomics) and wet lab approaches to gain better insights into the underlying mechanisms of the traits under investigation.
We are interested in a one-health approach to holistically study key zoonoses and reduce the risk of disease outbreaks. We collaborate with several research groups within the UK and overseas performing multidisciplinary research where we jointly analyse and integrate clinical, production and reproduction data with immunology, microbiology, quantitative and molecular genetics, computational and systems biology approaches. Our key research interests are in the discovery of novel biomarkers, the development of decision-making tools such as breeding and diagnostic tools, the identification of drug discovery and vaccine targets and the use of companion animals as models of human disease.
We are working across different traits and species. Specifically, we have projects investigating the genetics of zoonoses (campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis, colibacillosis, Avian Influenza), important infectious diseases in poultry (coccidiosis, enterococcus, fowl typhoid, fowl cholera, Marek’s disease, IBDV), gut health, mastitis, pneumonia and gastrointestinal parasitism in sheep, lameness and telomere dynamics in relation to health and longevity in cattle, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats, lymphoma in dogs, recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis and recurrent laryngeal neuropathy in horses. Furthermore, our group is working on the role of microRNA discovery and microbiome in animal health and productivity, as well as in the development of balanced breeding programmes for livestock aiming to simultaneously improve health, production and reproduction.