From Poultry to Peanuts: Leveraging Low Coverage Whole Genome Sequencing to uncover important traits in Chickens and Production Plants

Webinar Description

What do you get when you apply high throughput genomics to plant and animal breeding programs? Healthier animals and improved crop production, thanks to cutting-edge trait mapping technology driven by Next Generation Sequencing.

Join us Wednesday, April 12th as Douglas Rhoads, PhD, University Professor of Biological Sciences from the University of Arkansas (UA) and Josh Clevenger, Faculty Investigator from Hudsonalpha explore the use of Low-Coverage whole genome sequencing (Low-Coverage WGS) to map important traits in chickens and production plants like peanuts aided by Twist’s 96-plex library preparation kit.

In this webinar you will:
  • Discover how Low-Coverage WGS are being used to map important traits in chickens and peanuts to help address some of the main agrigenomic challenges of today.
  • Learn how the Twist 96-plex library prep workflow is efficient and cost-effective to validate and screen genetic markers in large numbers of samples.
  • Discover how the Clevenger lab is utilizing Twist’s 96-Plex Library Preparation kit and Khufu informatics to unlock innovative genomic approaches for crop research.
Webinar Registration

Speakers

Douglas Rhoads, PhD
University Professor of Biological Sciences | University of Arkansas
Presentation title: Whole Genome Resequencing for Mapping Complex Traits in Chickens
Bio: Douglas Rhoads is a University Professor of Biological Sciences, affiliated faculty member in the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, and director of the interdisciplinary graduate program in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Arkansas (UA). He joined the faculty at UA in 1990, to establish molecular genetics for the campus. He has published on genomics in humans, pathogenic yeasts/fungi, tomatoes, black bears, todies, rattlesnakes, and scorpions. His main focus has been genomics in poultry including male fertility, pulmonary arterial hypertension (ascites), and bacterial diseases. He has 71 peer-reviewed publications, 12 industry reports, and 177 presentations/seminars.

Josh Clevenger
Faculty Investigator | HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
Presentation title: Accelerated genomics with low coverage whole genome sequencing combined with Twist capture panels.
Bio: Josh Clevenger was trained in the lab of Peggy Ozias-Akins in plant breeding and genomics at the University of Georgia’s Institute of Plant Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics. During his PhD, he was a major contributor in the peanut genome initiative, an industry funded project to sequence the genome of cultivated peanut, develop genetic resources for breeding programs, and provide improved cultivars to maximize profits and provide sustainability at all levels of the peanut industry. After a short USDA-NIFA postdoctoral fellowship, Clevenger worked for Mars-Wrigley on the global nut science team where he designed and deployed genetic improvement projects across 5 continents where peanuts are grown. Clevenger joined HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in the spring of 2020 as a faculty investigator in the Center for Plant Science Sustainable Agriculture. Specifically, Clevenger’s lab is focused on optimizing the computational pipelines to optimize the use of next generation sequencing and genomics in genetic improvement projects involving crops with complex genomes. The lab then seeks out improvement targets that are crucial for on the farm profitability, develops tools for improvement of those targets, and uses advanced breeding techniques to rapidly develop new varieties that maintain yield under threat of pest pressure, stress from extreme temperatures and drought, and mitigate aflatoxin contamination.
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