prof.dr. MAM (Martien) Groenen

Prof Groenen’s research focuses on how an animal’s phenotype is shaped by the joint interplay between genes, genome and environment and in particular how selection affects the genomes of livestock species. He has been involved in mapping the genomes of various farm animals since the beginning of the 1990s. He played a prominent role in the international chicken and swine genome sequencing projects whose genomes were published in Nature in 2004 and 2012 respectively. He was also involved in international projects that sequenced the genomes of turkey and duck. Other genomes his group assembled include the genomes of the great tit, European wild boar, Friesian horse, and Asian Elephant. In 2009 he was awarded an advanced ERC research grant for his research project 'Molecular characterization of genetic factors in the pig under selection during speciation, domestication and breeding'. Many of the identified signatures of selection are located within non-coding regions of the genome. Current research activities are focused on the further characterization of these regions to provide deeper insight in the interplay of the selected variants within gene networks and the genomic context, by using a range of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS)-based studies (whole genome methylation, histone modification using ChIP-seq) and single cell approaches. He is one of the initiators and member of the steering committee of the FAANG consortium (Functional Annotation of Animal genomes). Professor Groenen has published over 350 peer reviewed articles and is a regular invited speaker at international conferences and workshops. From April 2017 to September 2024 he was the chair of Animal Breeding and Genomics. 

• Minister van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit (1-11-2017/1-11-2025)
  De Raad voor Dierenaangelegenheden (RDA) is een onafhankelijke raad van deskundigen die de minister van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit gevraagd of op eigen initiatief adviseert over multidisciplinaire vraagstukken op het gebied van dierenwelzijn inclusief diergezondheid en ethische vraagstukken. De RDA bestaat uit ongeveer veertig leden met zeer uiteenlopende achtergrond en deskundigheid, die er op persoonlijke titel en zonder last of ruggenspraak zitting in hebben.