Dr. Raluca Mateescu

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Curriculum Vitae

Education
BS:	Bucharest University, Romania, 1997; Molecular Biology and Genetics
MS:	Cornell University, Ithaca, NY,2001; Animal Science
PhD:	Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 2004; Animal Science

Teaching
ANSI 3433	Animal Breeding
ANSI 4900	Special Problems
ANSI 4900	Advanced Animal Breeding
ANSI 5010	QTL Mapping and Marker Assisted Selection
ANSI 5000, 6000	Research and Thesis
ANSI 5110, 611	Seminar

Professional Experience

June 1, 2006 – present, Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
June 1, 2006 – present, Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK
March 1, 2004 – May 31, 2006, Postdoctoral Associate with Drs. Nancy Burton-Wurster and George Lust, Baker Institute for Animal Health, and with Dr. Rory J. Todhunter, Department of Clinical Sciences Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, NY
March 1, 2004 – May 31, 2006, Postdoctoral Associate with Drs. Nancy Burton-Wurster and George Lust, Baker Institute for Animal Health, and with Dr. Rory J. Todhunter, Department of Clinical Sciences Cornell University, College of Veterinary Medicine, Ithaca, NY
January 1, 1999 – April 30, 2004; Graduate Research Assistant with Dr. Michael Thonney, Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
August 1, 1997 – December 31, 1998: Laboratory technician in Dr. Gustavo Aguirre’s laboratory Baker Institute for Animal Health

Research Interests

Raluca Mateescu does research in the area of beef cattle and sheep molecular genetics. Most biological traits of economic importance in domestic animals have a complex inheritance (are influenced by many genes and the environment) and the long-term research goal is to unravel the genetic basis for the phenotypic variability in this type of trait.

Current Projects

Development of genetic tools to improve nutritional and health value of beef. The aim of this project is to identify the genetic mechanisms that determine the phenotypic variability for healthfulness traits. The molecular information generated through this project could lead to identification of molecular DNA markers to be incorporated into breeding decisions.

Genotype by diet interaction for nutritional and healthfulness traits in grass fed vs. traditional finished beef. Grass-based beef production systems are low-input systems that are particularly suitable to meet the demand of meat retailers and consumers for naturally and animal-friendly produced beef. There is clear evidence for an enhanced proportion of n-3 fatty acids and CLA in beef from grass fed animals compared with beef from animals fed corn silage and concentrate. There is also substantial phenotypic variability among animals fed the same diet. Studies of CLA content in milk fat shows large individual variation within diet (grass-fed vs. concentrate) but also an overlap of the two distributions, indicating potential genotype by environment interaction.
The objective of this study is to evaluate the variability of healthfulness and quality traits within diet, identify the underlying genetic mechanism and asses the genotype by diet interaction.

Genes (QTL) affecting breeding out of season and milk production in sheep. Determining candidate genes or DNA markers related to increased ability to breed and lamb out of season or higher milk production would increase our understanding of the basic biological mechanisms underlying reproduction and milk production and provide new tools for selection.
Fertility in fall lambing has low heritability; the trait is expressed only in females and late in life. At the same time, the trait has enormous economic importance for the sheep industry and is an obvious candidate for marker or gene-assisted selection. Two approaches are being used to identify QTL: a) candidate gene approach, which consists of studying genes potentially involved in the physiological process; and b) positional cloning, which is based on mapping QTL to progressively narrower chromosomal regions, using a series of microsatellite markers.