Luise A. Seeker

I am a highly motivated scientist with a strong interest in interdisciplinary research. I am a trained vet and have a molecular as well as a data science background. I enjoy working with data while always acknowledging their biological meaning. I mostly study ageing, telomeres, gene expression and have an interest in neuroscience, particularly in multiple sclerosis.

Short CV

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

Currently, I am working in Prof. Anna Williams’ neuroscience lab at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine (University of Edinburgh) as a postdoc. Main main project involves the investigation of single cell gene expression in the human brain.

PhD in Quantitative Genetics

From 2012 to 2018 I pursued my PhD at the University of Edinburgh and SRUC investigating telomere length dynamics in dairy cattle.

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

Between the years 2005 and 2011 I studied veterinary medicine at Freie Universitaet Berlin (Germany).

Research Interests and skills

I am interested in biomedical research with a particular passion for neuroscience. Ideally I would like to see my work having an impact on how diseases are diagnosed or treated in the future. My education has been broad: From clinics over cell culture techniques and molecular techniques to statistical modelling and bioinformatics.

Publications

Ilska-warner, J. J., Psifidi, A., Seeker, L. A., Wilbourn, R. V, Underwood, S. L., Fairlie, J., … Banos, G. (2019). The Genetic Architecture of Bovine Telomere Length in Early Life and Association With Animal Fitness. Frontiers in Genetics. Link

Nettle D, Seeker LA, Nussey D, Froy H, Bateson, M (2019) Consequences of measurement error in qPCR telomere data: A simulation study. Plos One. Link

Seeker LA (2018) Characterisation of telomere length dynamics in dairy cattle and association with productive lifespan.
PhD thesis
Link

Seeker, L. A., Ilska, J. J., Psifidi, A., Wilbourn, R. V., Underwood, S. L., Fairlie, J., … Banos, G. (2018). Bovine telomere dynamics and the association between telomere length and productive lifespan. Scientific Reports. Link

Seeker, L. A., Ilska, J. J., Psifidi, A., Wilbourn, R. V., Underwood, S. L., Fairlie, J., … Banos, G. (2018). Longitudinal changes in telomere length and associated genetic parameters in dairy cattle analysed using random regression models. Plos One. Link

Seeker LA, Holland R, Underwood S, Fairlie J, Psifidi A, Ilska JJ, et al. (2016) Method Specific Calibration Corrects for DNA Extraction Method Effects on Relative Telomere Length Measurements by Quantitative PCR. Plos One. Link

L. Seeker, B. Holland, A. Psifidi, G. Banos and D. Nussey. 2015. “A robust assay for the measurement of telomere length in dairy cattle” Proc. 2015 Annual Meeting British Society of Animal Science, Chester, England, UΚ. Advances in Animal Biosciences, Vol 6(2):66.

Awards and Scholarships

SEFARI

First Prize out of 300 oral presentations for the Scottish Environment, Food and Agriculture Research Institutes (SEFARI) showcase of postgraduate Research competition