NIP and Regon

NIP 896-000-53-54

REGON 000001867
EORI PL896000535400000

Contact information

Kożuchowska 7 st.

51-631 Wrocław, Poland

main_committee@30thgeneticdays.pl

scientific_committee@30thgeneticdays.pl
Contact form

Projekt dofinansowany ze środków budżetu państwa, przyznanych przez Ministra Nauki  w ramach programu „Doskonała Nauka II”

Project co-financed from the state budget funds granted by the Minister of Science as part of the "Doskonała Nauka II" programme

Dr Adam Urantówka

Dr. Adam Urantówka is a research geneticist at the Faculty of Biology and Animal Science, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences. In 2002 he started his PhD studies in Molecular Biology at University of Wroclaw, Faculty of Biotechnology, Department of Molecular Biology of Cell. His research was focused on identification and characterization of        i-AAA mitochondrial proteases from Arabidopsis thaliana. He defended his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the University of Wrocław in 2008. During his academic career he worked as researcher at University of Wroclaw, Faculty of Biotechnology, Department of Molecular Biology of Cell and since 2010 at Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty of Biology and Animal Sciences, Department of Genetics. In his scientific work, he is interested in mitochondrial genome and its application in phylogenetics research. His scientific interests also concern the evolution of the mitochondrial genome of vertebrates, exemplified by birds and reptiles. Actually, he focuses mainly on rearrangements of the mitochondrial genome and heteroplasmy resulting from changes in the mitochondrial gene order.

Dr Anna Kulma

Anna Kulma is currently an associate professor at the Faculty of Biotechnology, University of Wroclaw. She obtained her Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Wrocław in 1999.  Later, she did a 3 year post-doc at MRC Protein Phosphorylation Unit in Dundee, Scotland, working on the role of 14-3-3s in cell signaling and sugar metabolism. At the end of 2003, she returned to the Department of Genetic Biochemistry at the Faculty of Biotechnology and focused her research on secondary metabolites of crop plants. In 2016, she obtained a post-doctoral degree ( doctor habilitatus) in biotechnology. Her other professional experiences include a three-month internship at the Jacques Monod Institute in Paris, a three-month internship at the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Halle, Germany, employment at the Wrocław Research Center EIT+ in a research project for a period of 30 months, and short visits to the Max Planck Institute of Plant Physiology in Golm, Germany, and the Institute of Phloem Fibers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Changsha, China. Since 2016, she has been the Head of the Department of Genetic Biochemistry.  She has experience in gene isolation and expression analysis, protein expression and analysis, plant transformation, plant in vitro cultures, and metabolite identification, particularly focusing on LC-MS analysis. Her research focuses on the manipulation of secondary metabolite pathways to increase plant resistance to fungal infections and the potential biomedical applications of derived products. In recent years, her research is focused on the role of apocarotenoids, including volatiles, abscisic acid, and strigolactones, in the interactions of flax with pathogens. 

Dr Bernt Guldbrandtsen

Bernt Guldbrandtsen has been in animal breeding research for almost 30 years in Aarhus University, University of Bonn, and now University of Copenhagen. He trained as a biologist and did his Ph.D. in theoretical population genetics. Subsequently, he has worked agricultural research in Denmark, but also in the UK, the US, Iceland, and Australia. His main research focus is the use of molecular data in the improvement of farm animals. Since 2011, he has been active in whole-genome sequencing and its uses in animals breeding. Another line of research has been characterization of farm animal genetic resources and the study of breed origins and relationships.

Dr Alain Frantz

Alain Frantz is Curator of Zoology at the National Natural History Museum of Luxembourg. He is interested in applying genetic and genomic methods to address applied problems in conservation and wildlife management. One major line of his research focusses on landscape genetics. He is interested in how fragmented human-altered landscapes affect gene flow and use this information to model landscape connectivity. This work can help with the design and optimisation of effective dispersal corridors and the spatial prioritisation of conservation areas. This and other work has led to a close collaboration with the Luxembourg Ministry of the Environment, where he provides scientific expertise to inform policy decisions and conservation initiatives. 

Prof. Wanda Olech

Prof. dr Wanda Olech works as a teacher and scientist at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, which has been his first and most important University for many years. During these many years, she held various positions: head of the department, head of doctoral studies, dean, director. She gives lectures on interesting but also difficult subjects, from statistics to animal population management.
In her research, she specializes in the assessment and maintenance of genetic variability in small animal populations, especially the problem of inbreeding depression and genetic drift. She has developed protection programs for various animal populations, including Hucul horses, Olkuska sheep, Japanese quails, mice and European bison. The most important object of her research and implementation is the European bison Bison bonasus - a species that, during and partly thanks to her work, changed its category in the IUCN Red List from Endangered (EN) to Near Threatened (NT). Together with her team, she deals with genetics, behavior, ecology, health and breeding of European bison. She is a co-author of the European and national conservation strategy for the species, and her concept of spreading the European bison in Poland resulted in the creation of several free populations. Prof. W. Olech is the coordinator of many scientific and implementation projects and closely cooperates with units of the State Forests and national parks. She is the president of the European Bison Friends Society - a non-governmental organization that, together with the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, organizes annual international scientific conferences. She is a member of the Committee for Animal Science and Aquaculture of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the scientific councils of national parks (Białowieski and Woliński). She participates in the work of scientific and social councils of several Forest Promotional Complexes. In the years 2016-2023, she served as the chair of the State Council for Nature Protection.

Her achievements include over 200 scientific and popular science papers. So far, she has supervised eighteen doctoral students and supervised several dozen master's and engineering theses.

Dr Carsten Nowak

Dr. Carsten Nowak, Head of Centre for Wildlife Genetics at Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He Studied Biology and Frankfurt, received his PhD there for a work on genetic depletion in pollutant-exposed insects (2007), followed by postdoc stay at the University of Notre Dame, USA, working on the genetics of arthropods (2007-2008), then became head of the Conservation Genetics Section at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt (2008), later founded the Centre for Wildlife Genetics at Senckenberg (2019), which focusses on the genetic monitoring of endangered European wildlife, and acts as national reference centre for large carnivore genetics in Germany. Founder of the CEwolf consortium of central European labs working on genetic wolf monitoring, and member of the IUCN large carnivore specialist group LCIE and several other research consortia.

Prof. Marcin Pszczoła

Marcin Pszczola is an Assistant Professor at the Genetics and Animal Breeding Department of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science at Poznan University of Life Sciences, Poland, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Genetics of Polish Federation of Cattle Breeders and Dairy Farmers. He works in the field of animal breeding and genetics. His research focuses on improving the accuracy of genomic predictions for novel traits in dairy cattle and reducing their environmental impact by selective breeding to reduce methane emissions. He obtained his PhD in animal science from Wageningen University (the Netherlands). He is vice president of the Polish Society of Animal Production (PTZ), and vice president of the Commission on Animal Genetics of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP). He serves as the chair of the Scientific Board of the animal – The international journal of animal biosciences.

Prof. Marek Świtoński

Marek Switonski is internationally recognized animal geneticist, who identified and reported dozens of different chromosome abnormalities in domestic animals species. He also conducted pioneering studies on meiotic chromosome pairing, with the  use of electron microscope, in carriers of chromosome mutations and interspecies hybrids.  An important part of his research was contribution to international efforts aimed on establishing of cytogenetic marker genome maps of canids (dog, arctic fox, red fox and Chinese raccoon dog) and pig.  Presently is carrying successful studies on molecular and cytogenetic background of disorders of sex development in companion animals  (dog and cat) and livestock species (pig, cattle, horse). He co-authored over 220 papers published in distinguished international journals, e.g.: Genomics, Chromosome Research, Animal Genetics, Gene, Scientific Reports, PLoS One, Journal of Heredity, Cytogenetics and Genome Research, Human Genetics, Journal of Animal Science, Journal of Dairy Science, Animal Reproduction Science, Theriogenology, Sexual Development, Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics etc.

Prof. Joanna Szyda

I come from Wroclaw, where I completed most of the stages of my professional career ... but not all of them. I defended my Ph.D. in Germany at the University of Hohenheim, and as a postdoctoral fellow, I worked in Canada at the Lunenfeld Research Institute. All my next stages of the research career were completed by my current employer, the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences. My research interest comprise bioinformatic modelling of large scale genomic, clinical and population data with the special emphasis on developing new statistical methodologies and exploring aspects of efficient computing. In the first period of work, I focused mainly on my own scientific development and expanding my bioinformatics skills, but from a certain stage I became interested in mentoring students and young scientists. Currently, I am the Head of the Biostatistics Group of the Department of Genetics and the Head of the THETA Leading Research Group of the Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences.

Prof. Maria Siwek-Glapińska

Prof. Dr. Maria Siwek completed her master's degree at the Faculty of Zootechnics of the current Poznań University of Life Sciences. In 2005, Maria Siwek was awarded the degree of Doctor of Agricultural Sciences on the basis of her doctoral dissertation entitled "Different genetic bases of immune responses in laying hens", which was prepared and defended at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Her postdoctoral degree was awarded to her in 2012. Prof. Dr. Maria Siwek has been an employee of the Faculty of Animal Breeding and Biology at PBŚ since 2005. Previously, she worked at the Institute of Zootechnics in Zakrzewo near Poznan, Wageningen University in the Netherlands, the Institute of Pig Genetics in the Netherlands, and the University of Palermo in Italy. Prof. Dr. Maria Siwek research interests are mainly related to the structural and functional genetics of animals. Her research is carried out in cooperation with many units both at home and abroad, within the framework of research projects funded by: Ministry of Science and Higher Education, National Science Center, National Center for Research and Development or the European Commission. Prof. Dr. Maria Siwek is a two-time winner of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship awarded by the European Commission.

Prof. Sara Oyler-McCance

Dr. Sara J. Oyler-McCance is a research geneticist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), an agency of the U.S. federal government that conducts research to guide management policy. She has worked as a conservation geneticist for USGS since 1999 leading the Molecular Ecology Lab at the Fort Collins Science Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. Sara applies genetic and genomic technologies to address a variety of complex questions and conservation issues facing the management of fish and wildlife resources in North America. Current and past studies have provided information to assess taxonomic boundaries, inform listing decisions made under the Endangered Species Act, quantify wildlife connectivity and the factors influencing it, explore local adaptation, estimate population size and survival rates, develop management or recovery plans, breed wildlife in captivity, relocate wildlife from one location to another, and assess the effects of environmental change.

Prof. Johan Michaux

Johan Michaux is Research Director at the National Belgian Funds for the Scientific Research and Professor of Evolutionary and Conservation Biology at the University of Liège, Belgium.
He is also the Director of the Conservation Genetics Laboratory of the University of Liège, whose aim is to study and preserve endangered species (European wolf, European otter, African Lion, Polar bear, European mink, Pyrenean desman etc). He is also a guest researcher at CIRAD (Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement) in Montpellier, France. He is also active in the popularization of science, notably as a scientific advisor for the National Belgian television, the RTBF.

Dr Zenting Liu

I completed my PhD programme at University of Hohenheim in Germany in 1994 and then worked as geneticist for the Canadian genetic evaluation centre for three years after my post-doctoral project at University of Guelph in Canada. From 1998 onwards, I work for the German genetic evaluation centre VIT, responsible for developing genetic and genomic evaluation systems in livestock species. 

Dr Paula Dobosz

Genetics – persecuted and disapproved by some, while being a source of fascination and hope for others. The rough way of life took me from a provincial town to the aged Cracow, where every day was full of new challenges. My path was not straight, but my scientific dreams were clearly oriented: cancer. I’ve been studying, training and/or working on such universities as Jagiellonian (PL), Cambridge (UK), Tel Aviv (IL), Georgetown (USA), Loyola (USA), as well as involved in scientific start-ups development. In my non-existent free time, I spread genetics in a popular-science form on my blog “Fakty I Mity Genetyki”.

Prof. Leonardo Bruno

I studied Biology at the University of Calabria and I obtained the degree in 2001. After the degree, I spent a training period on Plant Molecular Biology, at the institute of “Biochimica ed Ecofisiologia Vegetale del Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) di Monterotondo Scalo (Rome)”.

In 2002 I started my Ph.D in Plant Biology at the University of Calabria. During Ph.D course I obtained a Marie Curie fellowship (HPMT-CT-2000-00088), at Plant Systems Biology Department, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology, University, Ghent, Belgium under the supervision of Mieke Van Lijsebbettens. During this period (from 2003 to 2004) I studied through mutational and transgenic approaches the role of ELONGATOR complex in cell proliferation and organs growth in Arabidopsis thaliana as a model system. I obtained the PhD degree in Plant Biology at the University of Calabria in 2005.

From 2005 to 2007, I held a post-doc position at the University of Calabria in the Plant Biology Division of the Department of Ecology. In 2007 I obtained the permanent position as Assistant Professor in General Botany at the Department of Ecology of University of Calabria. In 2023 I obtained the permanent position in General Botany as Full Professor.

Guests

Our Guests come from various scientific backgrounds but we are all connected in our passion and love for genetic research. 

This part will be updated as more of our guests will be confirming their arrival so keep checking for more exciting arrivals!