Animal Systems Genomics

The mission of the Chair of Animal Systems Genomics is to investigate how human activities, such as selective breeding to habitat degradation, transform animal species at their most fundamental, molecular (genomic) level.

We study a diverse array of species, including domestic animals and their wild relatives, such as dogs and wolves or pigs and wild boars, as well as endangered species like lions. Our Chair possesses state-of-the-art infrastructure, allowing us to deploy a variety of "omics" techniques to efficiently decode genomic information from diverse substrates.

This includes a specialized positive-pressure molecular laboratory for ancient DNA, enabling us to work from highly degraded source material (such as bones) to reconstruct the genomes of individuals that lived thousands of years ago.

We are active in teaching at various levels, with a particular focus on the Veterinary Medicine curriculum. We are also members of the LSM Graduate School and the dynamic Evolutionary Genetics Community of Munich.