Sinéad McParland

Research Interests

• Breeding programmes
• Phenomic tools
• Genetics of milk quality
• Development of genetic evaluations, breeding objectives and breeding goals
• Conservation genetics

Current Projects

• Breed Quality: Genetic selection for improved milk and meat product quality in dairy, beef and sheep
• Fenotyping: Feasible phenotyping strategies for efficient and effective genetic gain in difficult to measure traits in cattle and sheep
• Methagene: Large-scale methane measurements on individual ruminants for genetic evaluations
• Gentore: Increasing the resilience of cattle to an increasingly changing environment
• RapidFeed: Development, calibration and validation of feed intake methodology to rapidly screen dairy beef and sheep for feed intake and efficiency

Education

• MSc Bioinformatics and Systems Biology, University College Cork 2011
• PhD Inbreeding in Irish Dairy and Beef Cattle, University College Dublin 2008
• BAgrSc Agricultural Science (Animal Science), University College Dublin 2005

Career

March 2009 – Present – Research Officer, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Co. Cork .
May 2012-Dec 2016 – Part-time research officer, National Cattle Breeding Centre, Naas, Co. Kildare.
Oct-Dec 2013 – Sabbatical at AgrioBio, Melbourne, Australia.
June-Sept 2009 – Sabbatical at SRUC, Edinburgh, UK.
Sept – Dec 2008 – Contract Researcher, Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, Bandon, Co. Cork.

• Publications