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Dr Yutao Li

/yoo-tao lee/

Senior Research Scientist

https://people.csiro.au/l/y/yutao-li

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Contact details:

BIOSCIENCE PREC 306 CARMODY RD
ST. LUCIA QLD 4067 AUSTRALIA

Biography

Yutao Li received her B. Agr. Sc. Degree (with the major in Animal Husbandry) from Xingjiang Agriculture University (China) and was awarded a PhD in Quantitative Genetics from the University of New South Wales in 1995. From 1993-1995, she was a Research Officer with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture, involved in the evaluation of WA Merino sheep breeding programs and identification of coefficient variation (CV) of fibre diameter as an indirect measurement for wool staple strength. The research led to the sheep industry to include CV of fibre diameter into the selection index for breeding programs. From 1995-1999, Yutao worked as a project leader /Quantitative Geneticist at the ForBio Research Ptd Ltd., in the genetic mapping and QTL detection of economically important traits for different forestry species. Since 1999, she joined the CSIRO Animal Molecular Genetics Team engaging in the development of genetic markers for carcass and meat quality traits in Beef cattle, and for fleece rot and pigmentation in Australian Merino sheep. She received the 2003 CSIRO Medal as a member of the team that made significant contributions to the discovery and industrial application of molecular genetic tests in cattle. From 2001 she led CSIRO Aquaculture Genetics Team to construct the world first Black tiger and Kuruma prawn genetic maps, identified first growth candidate gene for Kuruma prawn, and developed high throughput microsatellite systems for monitoring genetic diversity and pedigree identification of commercial Black tiger prawn farms in Australia. Since 2009, Yutao has been applying her extensive knowledge and skills in advanced statistics, computational biology, quantitative and molecular genetics to help a number of project teams across CSIRO business units as well as external research partners in analysing complex biological datasets. Her current main research interests include : 1) development and application of new genomic prediction methods to improve prediction accuracy of herd key economic traits by direct engaging with Australian commercial beef cattle producers; 2) development and application of machine learning methods for integrating multi sources of information (e.g. genomics and other OMICs) to predict future individual performances across generations and species.

Other Interests

Tai Chi and Choir singing: Alto with Brisbane Little Candle Light Choir.

Professional Areas

Fields of Research

Current

Current Roles

  • Project Leader
    MLA MDC. P.PSH.1211. Validation of Pooled DNA gEBV for Brahman Commercial Cow Fertility

  • Co-Project Leader
    SIP Project. Antibiotic-free sheep production systems

Academic Qualifications

  • 1986

    Bachelor of Agriculture Science (Honors)
    Xinjiang Agriculture University (Former Xinjiang August-First Agriculture College)

  • 1995

    PhD in Quantitative Genetics
    University of New South Wales

Professional Experiences

  • September 1993-March 1995

    Research Officer
    Sheep Industry Branch, Western Australian Department of Agriculture, South Perth, Western Australia

  • April 1995-January 1999

    Project Leader / Quantitative Geneticist
    ForBio Research Pty Ltd., Indooroopilly, Queensland

  • February 1999-June 2004

    Research Scientist
    CSIRO Livestock Industries, St Lucia, Queensland

  • July 2004-Present

    Senior Research Scientist
    CSIRO Livestock Industries /CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences/ CSIRO Agriculture & Food, St Lucia, Queensland

Achievements and Awards

  • 2003-2004

    CSIRO Medal for significant contributions to the discovery and industrial application of molecular genetic tests in cattle
    CSIRO

  • 2008-2009

    Wang Kuancheng Fund
    Chinese Academy of Sciences

  • 2020-2021

    CSIRO -INRAE Linkage Grant
    CSIRO

  • 2017-2018

    CSIRO - Chinese Academy of Sciences Exchange Program Scholarship
    CSIRO

  • 2022-2023

    CSIRO Entrepreneurship Award
    CSIRO

Other highlights

  • 2023--

    Invited postgraduate training course at Yangzhou University, China. Genetics and Genomics Data Analysis – Application of “OMICS” to Livestock Breeding and Genetics. 16-20 October 2023.

  • 2019--

    Invited postgraduate training course at Yangzhou University, China. Genomics Data Analysis -GAWS, Genomic Selection and Machine Learning. 2-6 December. 2019.

  • 2019--

    Invited talk. Major Analytical Methods in Genomic Prediction of Breeding Values. The Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Qingdao, China. 9 December. 2019

  • 2019--

    Invited talk. Using Random Forest to identify SNPs that decrease accuracy of genomic prediction – behaviour of SNPs with negative VIM values. 23nd AAABG Conference, Armidale, 27th Oct -1 Nov 2019.

  • 2018--

    Invited talk. Genomic Prediction of Breeding Values Using A Subset of SNPs Identified by Three Machine Learning Methods. The Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Qingdao, China. 5th September 2018.

  • 2018--

    Invited talk. Cattle Genetic Improvement History and Major Selection Methods. The Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Qingdao, China. 4 September 2018.

  • 2017--

    Invited talk. CSIRO Livestock Research and Application of Genomic Selection. Xinjiang Academy of Animal Sciences, Urumqi, China. 24 November 2017.

  • 2017--

    Invited talk. Application of Genomic Selection in Livestock Species. The Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Qingdao, China. 3 December. 2017.

  • 2014--

    Invited talk: Using Random Forests (RF) to prescreen candidate genes: a new prospective for GWAS. 10th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production. Vancouver, Canada. 17-22 August, 2014.

  • 2012--

    Invited training course. Introduction to quantitative genetics, SNP markers and genome wide association studies, and whole genome selection. The South China Sea Fisheries Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Guangzhou, 21-23 September 2012.

  • 2008--

    Invited training course. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, Genome Wide Association Studies and Whole Genome Selection. The Institute of Oceanology of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Qingdao. 4-5 July. 2008.

  • 2008--

    Invited talk: International Collaboration Forum – Marine Biotechnology and Functional Genomics Research and Applications. Qingdao. China. Genetic Markers and Their Application in Australian Prawn Industry. 3 July 2008.

  • 2005--

    Invited talk: Current Status of Shrimp Genomic Research in Australia. International Shrimp Genomic Consortium Workshop, Jan 13-14, 2005, San Diego, USA.

  • 2001--

    Invited talk: Mapping of Quantitative Trait Loci for production traits of the Kuruma Prawn Penaeus Japonicus using AFLP Markers. Aquaculture Workshop. Plant and Animal Genome IX. San Diego, USA. Jan 2001.

  • 2000--

    Invited talk: International Collaboration on Genetic Mapping of the Black Tiger Shrimp, Penaeus monodon: Progress Update. Aquaculture Workshop. Plant and Animal Genome VIII. San Diego, USA. Jan 2000.

Community and Corporate Citizenship

  • 2021--

    Trustee. Armidale Animal Breeding Trust (AABT)

  • 2018-2019

    The organising committee member. CSIRO Cutting Edge Symposium - Machine Learning in Genome Biology Symposium (2019, Kiama, NSW)

  • 2016-2017

    Vice-President. The Executive Committee for 22nd Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics (AAABG) Conference (Townsville, QLD)

  • 2004-2005

    General member. The organizing committee for 16th Association for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Genetics (AAABG) Conference (Noosa, QLD)

Publications

We have publications by Dr Yutao Li