Dr Emma Finlay

CONTACT DETAILS:

E-mail : finlayem [at] tcd [dot] ie
Tel : +353-(0)1-896-1265
Fax : +353-(0)1-679-8558

RESEARCH INTEREST:

Tuberculosis is a continuing threat to both animal and human health world wide. The sequencing of the bovine genome and production of the first bovine SNP chips are ushering in a new era of animal genetics. Ireland has an excellent TB monitoring and recording system. The TB susceptibility of Irish sires will be estimated by recording TB prevalence in their daughters. Genome wide SNP data will then be used to identify regions of the genome related to TB susceptibility and resistance.

ACADEMIC CAREER:

2007 to date : Research Fellow, Trinity College Dublin
Examining susceptibility to Tuberculosis in the Irish cattle population

2006 : Visiting scientist, International Livestock Research institute (ILRI), Nairobi
Surveying worldwide lifestock mitochondrial diversity

2005 - 2006 : IdentiGen Genetic Testing Services
Testing and optimising DNA extraction protocols and devising a means of identifying South American beef

TEACHING:

4-5 Sept 2007 : The Fourth GeneTime Workshop
McDonald Institute Cambridge, UK
Tutorial : Sequences and Population History

13-15 June 2007 : Workshop on the Application of Genetics to Disease Control
AHRI Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Lecture: Differential Responses to Infectious Diseases
Lecture: Population Genetics and Genetic Epidemiology I & II
Computer Practical : Genetic Epidemiology and the R Language

2001 to date : Supervision and direction of 3 undergraduate (B.A.) thesis research projects

EDUCATION & QUALIFICATIONS:

2001 - 2005 : Ph.D. Genetics, Trinity College Dublin
Thesis title : Bovini mitochondrial DNA: Demographic history and recombination. [An examination of complete bovini mitochondrial genomes, the demographic histories of wild and domesticated bovini as inferred from mitochondrial sequences and a search for evidence of mitochondrial recombination.]

1997 - 2001 : B.A.(Mod) in Natural Sciences (Genetics), Trinity College Dublin
First class honours, Gold medal Trinity College

PUBLICATIONS:

Meredith BK, Kearney FJ, Finlay EK, Bradley DG, Fahey AG, Berry DP, Lynn DJ. Genome-wide associations for milk production and somatic cell score in Holstein-Friesian cattle in Ireland. BMC Genet. 2012 Mar 26;13(1):21. [Epub ahead of print]. PMID:22449276

Finlay EK, Berry DP, Wickham B, Gormley EP, Bradley DG. A genome wide association scan of bovine tuberculosis susceptibility in Holstein-Friesian dairy cattle. PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e30545. Epub 2012 Feb 15. PMID:22355315

Groeneveld LF, Lenstra JA, Eding H, Toro MA, Scherf B, Pilling D, Negrini R, Finlay EK, Jianlin H, Groeneveld E, Weigend S; GLOBALDIV Consortium. Genetic diversity in farm animals--a review Anim Genet. 2010 May;41 Suppl 1:6-31. Review PMID: 20500753

Edwards CJ, Magee DA, Park SD, McGettigan PA, Lohan AJ, Murphy A, Finlay EK, Shapiro B, Chamberlain AT, Richards MB, Bradley DG, Loftus BJ, Machugh DE. A complete mitochondrial genome sequence from a mesolithic wild aurochs (Bos primigenius). PLoS One. 2010 Feb 17;5(2):e9255. PMID: 20174668

Stock F, Edwards CJ, Bollongino R, Finlay EK, Burger J, Bradley DG. Cytochrome b sequences of ancient cattle and wild ox support phylogenetic complexity in the ancient and modern bovine populations. Anim Genet. 2009 Oct;40(5):694-700. PMID: 19456314

Finlay EK, Gaillard C, Vahidi SM, Mirhoseini SZ, Jianlin H, Qi XB, El-Barody MA, Baird JF, Healy BC, Bradley DG. Bayesian inference of population expansions in domestic bovines. Biol Lett. 2007 Aug 22;3(4):449-52. PMID: 17535790

PRESENTATIONS:

Finlay EK, Gaillard C, Vahidi SM, Mirhoseini SZ, Jianlin H, Qi XB, El-Barody MA, Baird JF, Healy BC, Bradley DG. Bayesian inference of population expansions in domestic bovines. UK Archaeological Science Biennial Conference, University of Cambridge, 31 Aug - 3 Sept 2007.

Finlay E, Tapio M, Kierstein G, Jianlin H, Hanotte O. Assessment of sheep domestication history based on mitochondrial DNA diversity of contemporary Old World sheep. The 11th Congresss of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology, 20-25 August 2007

Tapio M, Han J, Finlay E, Hanotte O. Molecular view to the history of livestock genetic resources. Conference on the genetical resources of the Sudanese livestock wealth, Khartoum March 2007.

Hanotte O, Han J, Finlay E. The history of the molecular diversity of livestock genetic resources : overview of our current knowledge. 30th International conference on animal genetics, Porto Seguro, August 2006.

Finlay E. Water buffalo mitochondrial diversity and the demographic histories of wild and domesticated bovids. ICAZ Archaeozoology and Genetics, Cambridge June 2005.