Brenda Murdoch

Brenda Murdoch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences at the University of Idaho, within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. She also holds affiliate faculty status in Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at the University of Idaho and is an adjunct faculty member at the Center for Reproductive Biology and Animal Science, Washington State University.

Her educational background includes a B.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Alberta. She is actively engaged in research focusing on the genetic and epigenetic regulation of economically important traits in livestock species such as beef and dairy cattle and sheep.

Her research interests include livestock genomics, genetic improvement, genome-wide association studies, quantitative trait mapping, genotyping, infertility, and epigenetics. She employs modern molecular and genetic technologies to understand how genomic variations influence both desirable and undesirable phenotypic traits, including disease resistance and reproductive performance.

Her recent publications (all from 2024) reveal a strong trend in advanced genomic research, including complete T2T assemblies of cattle and sheep Y-chromosomes, GWAS on fertility and longevity, parasite resistance breeding, and functional genomics of muscle and metabolic traits. Her work is highly collaborative, often involving international teams and published in high-impact journals such as Nature Communications, Genes, and Frontiers in Genetics.

Notable scientific awards include:

• University of Idaho Alumni Award for Excellence (2021)
• University of Idaho President Mid-Career Award (2021)
• International Young Researcher nominee, Alberta Prion Research Institute (2013)
• PrioNet Highly Qualified Personnel Award (2009)
• Outstanding Contribution to Science, University of Alberta (2006)

She has also received multiple honors for scientific communication and early-career excellence.

Brenda Murdoch advises graduate students (implied by teaching AVS 501: Graduate Seminar and collaborative research), and her work is supported by research grants (implied by large-scale collaborative projects and publications). She leads research in the Livestock Genetics & Phenotypic Trait area and is involved in biotechnology lab-based genetic testing. Her future work likely includes expanding functional annotation of livestock genomes, improving disease resistance through selective breeding, and integrating multi-omics data for precision livestock farming.

She is affiliated with:

• Livestock Genetics & Phenotypic Trait Research Group
• Biotechnology Lab at University of Idaho
• Center for Reproductive Biology (WSU, adjunct)
• Affiliate, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program