Centre for Animal Science (CAS)

Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland

Back to directory

An image of a cow

CAS leads tropical livestock research and development in Australia. The centre works to improve animal health, welfare and productivity outcomes in the animal industries, and undertakes research in animal health programs, pest and disease control through improved detection, monitoring and vaccine technologies, plus application of integrated pest management systems. The centre has a strong capability in genetics, breeding and reproductive capability of northern Australian cattle breeds. The Centre is part of QAAFI is a unique Australian research institute, and among only a handful of similar scientific organisations anywhere in the world. It is comprised of four inter-related research centres (crops, horticulture, animal and food) with a focus on the challenges facing food and agribusiness sectors in the tropical and subtropical systems. QAAFI brings together scientists from across Queensland, working closely with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF).

Website
https://qaafi.uq.edu.au/centre-for-animal-science
Organisation type
  • University research centre
  • Queensland government – partner
Number of research staff
20-100 research staff
Address
Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia QLD 4067

Strengths and capabilities

  • Animal breeding and genetics
  • Animal health and diagnostics
  • Animal nutrition
  • Animal welfare
  • Analytical genomics
  • Aquaculture breeding and genetics
  • Aquaculture disease prevention
  • Poultry health and nutrition
  • Pig health and nutrition
  • Agricultural biotechnology

Facilities and major equipment

  • Physical Containment Class 2 (PC2) laboratory
  • Quarantine laboratory
  • Large animal physical containment (BC1 and BC2) facilities
  • Cattle tick research facilties
  • GreenFeed Units
  • Cropping and animal farming facilities
  • Cropping research facilities at Hermitage, Toowoomba and Gatton

Lead researchers

  • Professor Ben Hayes - Co-inventor of genomic prediction with extensive experience in genetic improvement of livestock, crop, pasture and aquaculture species
  • Professor Ala Tabor – Leads the the application of reverse vaccinology for the development of a novel cattle tick vaccine and paralysis tick vaccine, and commercialised diagnostic tools for bovine reproductive diseases.
  • Professor Eugeni Roura - Leads research focused on transgenerational nutrition studies including foetal development in pigs and “in ovo” applications in chickens through national research programs.
  • Associate Professor Sheila Ommeh - Research focused on the improvement of animal health and Production at the "Onehealth" interface through the development of diagnostics and vaccines for animal diseases of economic importance.
  • Associate Professor Luis Prada e Silva - Cattle nutrition with physiological mechanisms and genomic tools to improve the efficiency of tropical cattle production.

Key science sectors

More information about the sectors this centre is involved in:

Update details

Is this your centre? See any issues? Send a request to update your listing.