CQU's Associate Professor Ross Shepherd and PhD student Joe Daley from Informatics and Communication have been involved in the biennial conference of the Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics (AAABG) which was a satellite conference of the XIX International Congress of Genetics, held in Melbourne earlier this month.

The congress involved six Nobel Laureates, 300 elite international speakers and more than 2700 delegates from 67 countries. It was described as the 'Olympics of Genetics'.

Ross and Joe had three papers at the AAABG conference, which focused on scientific research and industry perspectives relating to animal breeding and genetics issues in the animal industries, particularly in Australia and New Zealand. Joe presented two talks about his PhD research which develops statistical methodology for detecting segments of DNA which have a major impact on important traits in the livestock industries. These statistical methods are only possible with the recent scientific advances in biotechnology.

Ross was unable to attend the conference or congress as he is currently on study leave at the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland. However he was elected a member of the new committee for the next AAABG conference to be held in Queensland in 2005 (probably in Rockhampton).