In the spotlight: Ole Madsen, associate professor at ABG

Hello Ole, could you introduce yourself and share a bit about your position is at ABG?

Yes, I’m Ole Madsen. I grew up in Denmark where I lived until I finished my MSc at Aarhus University. I have now been living in the Netherlands for about 30 years. At ABG I’m working as associate professor and my main responsibilities are teaching, supervising MSc and PhD students, supporting young scientists and doing research. More specific inside the Genomics group, I’m leading the epigenomics research. In terms of personality, I consider myself to be a thoughtful, mellow and committed person.

When and how did you start at ABG? And where did you work before you came to WUR?

I started working at ABG in 2007. Before that I got my MSc in molecular biology at Aarhus University and had been working some 13 years at Radboud University (Nijmegen) where I also did my PhD in molecular evolution and systematics. During my time in Nijmegen I also worked half a year as Research Associate at Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.

I'm curious, what sparked your interest in genetics?

Well, my interest in biology can be traced back to my childhood when I watched Jacques Cousteau on the television. Thus, already at primary school I wanted to become a biologist. My interest in molecular biology was sparked during my studies, and later on, during my PhD, I got interested in genomics. I was fascinated by how variation in the genome can lead to the diverse variety in species that has happened during evolution and/or domestication.

What motivates/drives you in your work? What is it about your work that gives you energy?

There are many things that motivate and give me energy in my work. One of them is teaching and supervision. I very much like to pass on knowledge to other people and I think this is one of our main and most important tasks at the University. Furthermore, I also very much like doing (epi)genomics research, puzzling with the small details found in the (epi)genomic data and discuss with my colleagues. And lastly, I very much like to hear the fascinating stories from colleagues during the coffee breaks at Radix.

Can you share some information about a project that you are currently working on? Something that you're proud of?

I am involved in several projects that I’m proud to be a part of. I am involved in a couple of European network projects (H2020) which are related to the Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) consortium which I think, beyond doing solid research, also pave the way for future international collaborations for ABG. I am also very proud of the NLAS project I am part of, where we are currently setting up single-cell sequencing in the lab. Single-cell sequencing will provide us with the possibility to unravel the cell composition of different tissues, the variation in cell composition between individuals with different phenotypes and also enable the discovery of cell types in in vitro complex cell systems, like organoids.

On a more personal note, what are your hobbies? How do you like to spend your free time?

My biggest hobbies are listing to music, cooking/baking and being together with my family.

Final question, who would you like to nominate for the next interview in this series, and why?

Hmm, that is a difficult question as there are really many nice colleagues I could nominate for various reasons. I think I will nominate Esther Ellen. Esther is probably one of the persons at ABG that knows both the Wageningen Livestock Research (WLR) and University parts the best and therefore plays an important role in the continuous development of ‘one’ ABG. Esther has a great and pleasant way of leading projects and meetings and often provides great and clever ideas when discussing new projects.