Quantitative Biology Strategy
At the RVC, quantitative biology is fundamental to many of our research disciplines, and our quantitative biology group provides key computational support for our two Research Programmes. Veterinary epidemiology is the foundation of this cross-cutting group.
The Quantitative Biology Group will facilitate researchers to:
- establish RVC as a leader in the application of rapid sequencing and pathogen evolution during outbreaks of infectious disease in livestock to inform control measures in real time;
- to apply whole genome sequencing integrated with phenotypic data on complex diseases (e.g. diabetes, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, identification of disease resistance in production animals) to understand their genetic architecture, thus leading the field of veterinary genetics and genomics to a new territory;
- apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to a number of research questions to develop novel tools for both, research and diagnostic (e.g. analysis of physical activity data in experimental dogs to detect effects of treatments for muscular dystrophy; algorithms to differentiate dogs in different stages of mitral valve disease to determine which will benefit from medical (or surgical) treatment);
- develop skills in natural language processing and apply these to the extraction of data from Vetcompass and undertake spatial analysis to identify environmental factors contributing to disease patterns
Led by Dr Dong Xia
BSc, MSc, PhD, PGCVetEd, FHEA
Senior Lecturer in Bioinformatics
Dong is a senior lecturer in bioinformatics. His group focuses on big data analysis, where datasets generated from multiple omics platforms and phenotypic and clinical measurements are integrated for system modelling. These approaches are applied to the improvement of animal health and welfare through drug and vaccine development, as well as the comprehensive characterisation of medical and veterinary disease pathologies.
Key areas:
