In the spotlight: Pascal Duenk, assistant professor at ABG

Last time, Leo Kruijt shared a bit about his background and her work for ABG. This time we ask Pascal Duenk, assistant professor at ABG, about his work and research activities. (And his hobbies, of course.)

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

My name is Pascal Duenk, and I am an assistant professor at ABG. This role
involves both teaching and doing research, which is a very nice combination! My
main responsibilities are to teach courses about animal breeding, quantitative
genetics, and programming skills. My research focuses on improving health and
welfare of poultry by furthering our understanding of trait genetics, and
applying statistical models for breeding value estimation.

How and when did you start at ABG? And where did you work before you came to WUR?

A number of years ago, I was an Animal Science student at WUR myself, specializing in animal behaviour and genetics. After a short career in plant breeding research, I returned to ABG in 2015 to work on my PhD and a short postdoc project.

I'm curious, what sparked your interest in genetics and/or animal breeding? Or animal sciences in general?

I have been fascinated by animals since I was a little kid. I loved looking at animals and how they behaved, particularly birds! Initially, I wanted to study veterinary medicine, but I did not pass the selection procedure. After studying biology for one year, I decided to make the switch to Animal Science, and very soon I learned that this was a very wise decision. Although I majored in animal behaviour, my study advisor suggested to take a minor in animal breeding because I was good at statistics and interested in computer programming. I liked this so much that I decided to pursue a career in animal breeding.

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

I always want to understand how things work, especially in biology. Why does an animal behave the way it does, or why do some individuals express a certain trait, and others do not? Genetics is at the basis of understanding living things, so that’s a big driver for me. My aim is to use my knowledge in breeding and genetics to improve the quality of life for the animals we keep. Finally, I love to teach, and I get a lot of energy from interacting with students.

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

A lot of laying hens suffer from fractures in their keel bone; prevalence can go up to 80-90% in some aviary systems. Keel bone fractures are therefore a major welfare concern. Although keel bone damage has been associated with egg production traits, collisions with housing features, and the shape of the keel bone, the genetic background of keel bone fractures is largely unknown. In this project, I use genetic and phenotypic data on more than a thousand laying hens to find genomic regions that are associated with keel bone fractures. The first preliminary analyses have shown that the associated genomic regions contain genes that (in humans) have been associated to vitamin D and calcium concentration, and bone density. These results can help to understand the causes of keel bone fractures better, and to breed for hens that are less prone to having these fractures.

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

In my free time I like to go for a run, or play a game of tennis. On weekends I
try to spend some time with friends, and drink a nice glass of wine or craft
beer. I also like reading (fiction, fantasy, and popular science), and working
on my website (www.thesis-lab.com). But most of my free time I spend with my twin sons, who are now almost three years old.

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

ABG is a very diverse group of people that have very different backgrounds. Although the main focus is still animal breeding and genomics, we have multiple experts from different domains, such as data science. I would therefore like to nominate Marjaneh Taghavi (Taghavirazavizadeh), who works as a researcher on topics such as machine learning and computer vision.