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Ryley Vanderhout


Position/Title: Ph.D. Candidate
email: rvande02@uoguelph.ca
Phone:
Office: ANNU 103

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In 2013, I enrolled in the University of Guelph B.Sc. Biological Sciences Honours program with the vision of one day attending the Ontario Veterinary College. In the winter of 2017, I completed a research project supervised by Dr. Anna-Kate Shoveller which aimed to create an equine feed formulation software in Excel. Upon completion, this Excel program was compared to one of the leading feed formulation programs in the industry, FeedXL. This project first ignited my interest in research. That same semester, I enrolled in the Animal Breeding Methods course (MBG*4030) and became very intrigued by genetics.

After graduating in 2017, I began a Master of Science by thesis supervised by Dr. Christine Baes and Dr. Ben Wood and as of January 2019, have made the switch to a Ph.D. program. I will be working within a group whose overall goal is the incorporation of genomic data, information on the genes of the animals, into Canadian turkey breeding programs. We will also be investigating the use of new measurable phenotypes important for production, welfare, and reproduction. This project has the potential to drastically increase the production gains of the Canadian turkey industry as well as greatly lower the carbon footprint associated with raising these animals. For more information on this project, I encourage you to visit the following link: Hybrid Turkeys receives funding for $6 million genomic selection project.

Outside of academia, I enjoy staying active by participating in baseball, hockey, and volleyball. I have also joined the Animal Biosciences Student Council as the Treasurer and look forward to the possibility of expanding into other jobs within the council.