Pau Navarro

Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Genetics

Biography

Background

Pau Navarro is a Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Genetics at The Roslin Institute (University of Edinburgh). She studied Agricultural Engineering at the Universitat Politècnica de València and undertook her PhD in Genetics at The Roslin Institute, which she followed with a postdoc in human genetics. She was then investigator scientist within the Complex Traits group at the MRC Human Genetics Unit in Edinburgh until  March 2023, when she took on her current position. Her research spans livestock, wild population and human genetics and epigenetics.

Her current role has both teaching and research components. Her teaching responsibilities include leading the development and delivery of education activity in the area of Data-Driven Breeding and Genetics linked to The Roslin Institute and the Division of Global Agriculture and Food Systems. She is director of the postgraduate online programme in Data-Driven Breeding and Genetics.

Qualifications

BSc in Agricultural Engineering (Animal Science), Universitat Politècnica de València, 1999.

PhD in Quantitative Genetics, University of Edinburgh, 2004.

Certificate of Pedagogic Competency, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2009.

Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy, 2022.

Responsibilities & affiliations

External:

Member of the BBSRC People and Talent (PAT) Strategy Advisory Panel Researcher Subgroup (2022-2023)

Internal:

Academic Senate Member (2019 to date)

Undergraduate teaching

Undergraduate Teaching and Supervision

I am not currently involved in undergraduate teaching, but our group has hosted both undergraduate and high school students for short projects. If this is something that interests you, have a look at http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/nuffield-research-placements and get in touch!

Postgraduate teaching

MSc Teaching and Supervision

I am director of the postgraduate online programme in Data-Driven Breeding and Genetics, for which I have led the development. The programme has various exit routes, including masters, postgraduate diploma, postgraduate certificate and individual courses. I am course organiser for three courses in the programme:  Genomics and Phenomics in Breeding (VESC11279), Research and Professional Skills for Data-Driven Breeding and Genetics (VESC11282) and the Data-Driven Breeding and Genetics Dissertation (VESC11277).

I have taught within the QGGA MSc and the IGMM Postgraduate programme. I have also contributed to these programmes and the EPCC HPC MSc through the provision of projects and supervision of students. These often represent the student’s first contact with practical research, and a significant amount of supervision is required to ensure that the projects not only lead to the successful completion of the study programme but also set the foundation stone for a successful career in research, by inculcating good research practice.

PhD Supervision

I have been supervising PhD students, either in formal   or informal capacities for more than a decade. Currently, I am supervisor to 4 PhD students.

I have won several awards in relation to my supervisory practice:

IGC CMVM Student Supervision and Support Award, 2021.

Student Experience Award, CMVM Staff Recognition Awards, 2022. [Also nominated for the Collaborator and Outstanding Colleague awards]

Open to PhD supervision enquiries?

Yes

Current PhD students supervised

Michael Baber

Silvia Shen (writing up)

Jurgis Kuliešius (awaiting graduation)

Mohamed AboelEla

Past PhD students supervised

Caelinn James

Eilidh Fummey

Arianna Landini 

Linda Repetto

Panagiotis Kokkinias

Bailey Harrington

Richard Oppong

Charley Xia

Reka Nagy

Kate Schraut

Peter Joshi

Alida Kindt

 

Research summary

My research focuses on the dissection of the complex trait variation of the type that underlies the health, production and reproduction traits in livestock and frequent and high impact human diseases such as cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, glaucoma and mental disorders. I use phenotypic, environmental and ‘omic (including genomic) information recorded in large populations to disentangle the complex trait architecture.

My work has focused on applying and developing tools that allow us to better understand the genetic and environmental architecture underlying complex traits. This is important from a basic biology, clinical and animal breeding viewpoints. Identifying which genes and pathways (or other genomic features) are responsible for trait variation, be it normal or pathological, will enable the design of tailored breeding programmes, unveil pharmacological targets and inform on interventions needed to prevent ill health (if we know an individual has a genetic high risk of suffering a disease, we can put in place measures that counteract this risk). These have important implications both from a welfare and an economic point of view. Some advances have been done towards unveiling regions responsible for variation, and my research has contributed to this. We have also come to the realisation that more powerful analytical and computational tools are needed to further assist in this task and to apply the outcomes of the research to ‘real life’ (for example risk prediction tools in clinical practice). Again, my current research plays an important role in the advancement of the field.

Current research interests

Some examples of my current research include: - Investigating the genetic architecture of reproductive success and reproductive failure in sheep. - Using multiomics data to enhance production and health, for example, use of metabolomic profiling to investigate growth and reproductive traits in sheep. - Characterising DNA methylation variation at population scale and using it to unravel environmental influences on complex traits (including genome by environment interactions). - Developing of tools to enable DNA methylation profiling at scale in livestock species.

We like to participate in and organise science events in the community.

We routinely visit schools and Scout and Guirlguiding groups and talk about cells and genetics mainly, and get kids excited about science :-)

 

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