Science Talks
A series of short talks about current scientific research happening here at The Roslin Institute. Hear from the scientists themselves as they describe their research and what inspired them to get into science in the first place!
Megan Davey- The day in the life of a scientist- Chicken Finger, Dinosaur toes.
I am a developmental biologist, which means understanding how we grow from a single fertilised cell into a walking talking, digesting, thinking human with trillions of cells all doing specialised functions. To study this I use chicken embryos- but what does studying a chicken tell me about humans? And where do dinosaurs come into the story?
Remi Gratacap- Understanding genetics to breed more disease resistant animals.
"Aquaculture production needs to increase by 40 percent by 2030 to meet global demands for fish”. I will focus on how I use fish genetics to reduce the impact of disease in fish farms. I will touch on the genetics I use in my research and how I use genome editing to quicken up the rate of genetic improvement.
Sarah Fletcher- Using genome editors to produce disease-resistant pigs
I'll be talking about how we use genome editors at The Roslin Institute to attempt to generate resistance to disease in pigs. I'll not be going into huge detail about how genome editors work but will focus the introduction more about why we might want to use genome editors rather than selective breeding and on their potential uses in increasing productivity of livestock, improving animal welfare, producing animals that are resistant to diseases. The final focus will be on the PRRS-resistant pig story.