Daniela Lino Lourenco

Dr. Daniela Lino Lourenco is an Associate Professor in Animal Breeding, Genetics, and Genomics at the University of Georgia's College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. She earned her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Biological Sciences and Animal Breeding/Genetics from Maringá State University, Brazil, and later completed her Ph.D. at the University of Georgia. Her research focuses on leveraging genomic information to enhance livestock genetic progress, with particular emphasis on genomic selection methodologies in cattle, poultry, swine, and fish. Her work includes developing computational tools for large-scale genomic evaluations used globally by breeding companies and associations.

Dr. Lourenco has authored over 275 conference proceedings, 162 peer-reviewed publications, and 85 invited talks. She leads a team of 15 graduate students and postdocs, and has trained geneticists worldwide. Her honors include the 2020 UGA Fred C. Davis Early Career Award. She serves on editorial boards for journals such as Journal of Dairy Science and Genetics Selection Evolution, and chairs the AGBT-Ag Scientific Committee.

Research interests include genomic evaluation algorithms, computational biology for big data analysis, and improving breeding strategies for livestock productivity. Her group's software tools for single-step genomic predictions are widely adopted in industry and academia. She teaches advanced courses on linear models in breeding genetics and current literature in computational genetics.

Dr. Lourenco maintains active collaborations across five continents, hosting over 40 international researchers since 2015. Her current projects address genomic selection challenges in diverse species, including optimizing crossbreeding strategies for dairy cattle and advancing genomic prediction accuracy in aquaculture.