NMBU

Norges Miljo og Biovitenskaplige Universitet

Norway

NMBU focuses on interdisciplinary research and study programmes that generate innovations in food, health, environmental protection, climate and sustainable use of natural resources. NMBU has approximately 5,200 students, 1,700 staff members and 64 study programmes. NMBU also hosts The Livestock Production Research Centre (SHF), which is Norway’s largest educational and research facility for fundamental and innovative animal research as well as practical solutions for sustainable and profitable livestock farming. SHF’s specific focus is in the areas of ‘livestock farming, nutrition, genetics, animal health and welfare, and the impact of domestic animals on the environment’. In 2018, NMBU was ranked 15th in a ranking of the world’s best universities in agriculture and forestry. (QS ranking 2018).

Competence and main role(s) in the project

NMBU has strong competence in multi-omics and combing analytical metadata with metabolic reconstructions of population genomes to visualize flow of metabolites in complex microbiomes. In addition, NMBU has experience using temporal meta-omics and co-expression network analysis to interpret synergistic interactions between keystone microbial populations. SHF has expertise in animal behavior (ethology studies), feeding experiments, experiments related to animal health and welfare, as well as breeding experiments and agricultural technology. NMBU will lead WP4 “Integrating Microbiomes” and will make major contributions to Tasks 4.1-4.4 as well as genome reconstruction with long read technology (WP1: Task 1.4). NMBU will also host animal trials at its SHF facilities that will participate in WP2, Tasks 2.1-2.4

Project staff

Phil B. Pope

Microbial ecologist and physiologist. Experience using multi-omic approaches to deconvolute the intimate genetic and physiological relationship between the host animal and its microbiome. PI of Novo Nordisk Fonden fellowship “SuPAcow” and coordinator for ERA-Net project “ImprovAFish”, which both seek to modulate the feed-microbiome-host axis in cows and fish, respectively. ERC-Stg and MC-IF alumnus. 70+ peer-reviewed articles, which have attracted 4600+ citations (i10-index: 60, h-index: 32).

Torgeir R. Hvidsten

Bioinformatician/computational biologist. Expert on multi-omics data analysis with a focus on integrative and comparative network analysis. Currently the PI of a Research Council of Norway FRIPRO project, and previous PI at the Swedish Research Council. 60+ peer reviewed articles, 15 as the last author, which have attracted 5200+ citations (i10-index: 52, h-index: 30).

Margrete Eknæs

Experience within the area of ruminant nutrition and with a special competence in lactation physiology. Have been involved in different research projects including experiments within nutrition and physiology in dairy cows, goats and sheep. 18 peer-reviewed articles, 4 as the first author and 4 as the last author, which have attracted 500+ citations (i10-index: 15, hindex:13).

Irma Oskam

Veterinarian, experience in the field of livestock production. Currently Head of the Livestock Production Research Centre. Special competence in reproduction and biotechnology and involved in a variety of research projects including veterinary- and human medicine, biotechnology, toxicology, epidemiology in laboratory animals, cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. 30 + peer-reviewed articles, 980 (i10-index: 26, h-index: 17).

The HoloRuminant project has received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 101000213. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and not the European Commission (EC). The EC is not liable for any use that may be made of them information contained herein.