Catherine Ernst

Catherine Ernst is a Professor in the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State University (MSU) and Chairperson of the same department. She directs the MSU interdepartmental Genetics and Genome Sciences Graduate Program and serves as Pig Genome Co-Coordinator for the USDA National Animal Genome Research Program. Her research focuses on animal molecular genetics, genomics, and epigenetics to improve pig production traits through genetic mechanisms.

• Current research includes eQTL studies, DNA methylation analysis, and RNA editing in pigs
• Key methodologies: RNA-seq, miRNA-seq, Whole-Genome Bisulfite Sequencing

Scientific Contributions:

• 2023: Transcriptome annotation using nanopore sequencing
• 2021: Pig genome functional annotation for complex trait interpretation
• 2019: Genetic control of muscle gene expression variation

Education & Administration: MS (Iowa State University), PhD (Ohio State University). Holds administrative roles as Associate Chair for Graduate Training and Director of the Genetics Graduate Program.