I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow working in the group of Professor Laura Green, and my research interests broadly revolve around the analysis and characterisation of populations. These populations range from individual bacterial species, to people and farm animals. I have recently completed a project studying footrot, and its treatment, in sheep. Building on this interest, my current research involves the characterisation of non-dairy sheep udders to see if there are links between udder conformation and susceptibility to mastitis, and whether or not these are heritable.

I graduated from SAC-Auchincruive in 1999 with a degree in Applied Animal Science, and spent a year working on a 300-head dairy farm in Shropshire, and as a small animal technician at the University of Liverpool. I then began my research career under the supervision of Professors Green, Medley and Dowson and studied the population genetics of Staphylococcus aureus isolates which cause mastitis in dairy cattle. This was followed by a postdoc position at the Medical College of Wisconsin, investigating the genetics of obesity and the metabolic syndrome in humans, in the laboratory of Michael Olivier. We used single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to describe how genetic sequence variation can affect disease susceptibility.

In my spare time I like to play cricket here, and I occasionally compete in triathlons. I also enjoy Southern US barbecue, you can read more about my (and others) exploits here.

Publications

Smith, E.M., Hoffman, J.I., Green, L.E. and Amos, W. (2012). Preliminary association of microsatellite heterozygosity with footrot in domestic sheep. Livestock Science, 143 (2-3); 293-299. [Article]

Smith, E.M., Monaghan, E.M., Huntley, S.J. and Green, L.E. (2011). Preliminary investigation into the effect of freezing and a cryopreservant on the recovery of mastitis pathogens from ewe milk. Journal of Dairy Science, 94 (10); 4850-4855. [Article]

Zhang, Y., Smith, E.M., Baye, T.M., Eckert, J.V., Abraham, L.J., Moses, E.K., Kissebah, A.H., Martin, L.J. and Olivier, M. (2010). Serotonin (5-HT) receptor 5A sequence variants affect human plasma triglyceride levels. Physiological Genomics, 42 (2); 168-176. [Article]

Smith, E.M., Zhang, Y., Baye, T.M., Gawrieh, S., Blangero, J., Curran, J.E., Dyer, T.D., Moses, E.K., Kissebah, A.H., Martin, L.J. and Olivier, M. (2010). INSIG1 influences obesity-related hypertriglyceridemia in humans. Journal of Lipid Research, 51 (4); 701-708. [PDF]

Smith, E.M., Amos, W., Bruford, M., Teverson, D., Oppenheimer, S. and Green, L.E. (2009). Report on DEFRA project IF0180: Review of molecular characterisation studies relating to UK farm animal genetic resources. [Executive summary]

Zhang, Y., Smith, E. and Olivier, M. (2009). Chapter 22: Putting the Invader^® assay to work: Laboratory application and data management. In A.A. Komar ed. Single nucleotide polymorphisms: Methods and protocols (Methods in molecular biology), 2nd edition, 363-377; Humana Press. [Abstract]

Hulten, M., Smith, E. and Delhanty, J. (2008). Errors in chromosome segregation during oogenesis and early embryogenesis. In D.T. Carrell and C.M. Peterson eds. Reproductive endocrinology and infertility: Integrating modern clinicla and laboratory practice; 325-342; Springer, New York. [Abstract]

Baye, T.M., Zhang, Y., Smith, E., Hillard, C.J., Gunnell, J., Myklebust, J., James, R., Kissebah, A.H., Olivier, M., and Wilke, R.A. (2008). Genetic variation in cannabinoid receptor 1 (CNR1) is associated with derangements in lipid homeostasis, independent of body mass index. Pharmacogenomics, 9 (11); 1647-1656. [PDF] 

Sidjanin, D.J., McCarty, C., Patchett, R., Smith, E. and Wilke, R. (2008). Pharmacogenetics of ophthalmic topical b-blockers. Personalized Medicine, 5 (4); 377-385. [PDF]

Smith, E.M., Littrell, J., Olivier, M. (2007). Automated SNP genotype clustering algorithm to improve data completeness in high-throughput SNP genotyping datasets from custom arrays. Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics, 5 (3-4); 256-259. [Article]

Smith, E.M., Wang, X., Littrell, J., Eckert, J., Cole, R., Kissebah, A.H. and Olivier, M. (2006). Comparison of linkage disequilibrium patterns between the HapMap CEPH samples and a family-based cohort of Northern European descent. Genomics, 88 (4); 407-414. [Article]

Smith, E.M. and Olivier, M. (2006). Using SNPs to unravel the genetic basis of obesity. Clinical Laboratory International, 30 (3); 11-13. [PDF]

Smith, E.M., Green, L.E., Medley, G.F., Bird, H.E., Fox, L.K., Schukken, Y.H., Kruze, J., Bradley, A.J., Zadoks, R.N. and Dowson, C.G. (2005). Multilocus sequence typing of intercontinental bovine Staphylococcus aureus isolates. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 43 (9); 4737-4743. [PDF]

Smith, E.M., Green, L.E., Medley, G.F., Bird, H.E. and Dowson, C.G. (2005). Multilocus sequence typing of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from high somatic cell count cows and the environment of an organic dairy farm in the United Kingdom. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 43 (9); 4731-4736. [PDF]

Smith, E.M., Green, L.E. and Mason, D. (2003). Savinase is a bactericidal enzyme. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 69 (1); 719-721. [PDF]

Abstracts & Posters

Cooper, S., Smith, E.M., et al, SVEPM 2012...more details soon...

Zhang, Y., Smith, E.M., Martin, L.J., Charlesworth, J., Moses, E., Blangero, J., Lazar, J., Lazarova, Z., Kissebah, A.H., Mirza, S. and Olivier, M. (2008). The serotonin receptor gene HTR5A affects plasma triglyceride levels in humans and mice. The American Society of Human Genetics 58^th Annual Meeting Abstracts (Abstract 2026). [Abstract] [Poster]

Zhang, Y., Smith, E.M., Baye, T.M., Gunnell, J., DelaForest, A., Hillard, C.J., Kissebah, A.H., Olivier, M. and Wilke, R.A. (2008). Genetic variation in fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) is associated with altered lipid homeostasis in an obese cohort. GLC ASPET Meeting, Chicago, June 13 2008.  [Abstract] [Poster]

Baye, T.M., Zhang, Y., Smith, E., Hillard, C.J., Gunnell, J., Myklebust, J., James, R., Kissebah, A.H., Olivier, M., and Wilke, R.A. (2008). Genetic association of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CNR1) with obesity and obesity-related traits. GLC ASPET Meeting, Chicago, June 13 2008. [Abstract] [Poster]

Smith, E., Martin, L., Kissebah, A., and Olivier, M. (2007). Sequence variants in two novel genes and two intergenic regions within a QTL on human chromosome 7q36 alter plasma triglyceride levels in the human metabolic syndrome. The American Society of Human Genetics 57^th Annual Meeting Abstracts, 286 (Abstract 1418/F). [Abstract]

Smith, E., Martin, L., Kissebah, A.H. and Olivier, M. (2006). Comprehensive analysis of a QTL on chromosome 7q36 affecting the lipid profile in the human metabolic syndrome reveals a cluster of genes with small individual effect. Obesity, 14 (Suppl.); A9.

Smith, E.M., Martin, L.J., Kissebah, A. and Olivier, M. (2006). QTL fine-mapping reveals several discrete loci with small individual effects. The American Society of Human Genetics 56th Annual Meeting Abstracts, 291 (Abstract 1561/C). [Abstract]

Smith, E.M., Martin, L.J., Kissebah, A.H. and Olivier, M. (2005). INSIG1: A candidate gene for traits influencing the lipid profile in the human metabolic syndrome. Obesity Research, 13 (Suppl. 1); A217 (Abstract 838-P).

Smith, E.M., Green, L.E., Medley, G.F., Bird, H.E. and Dowson, C.G. (2003). Multilocus sequence typing of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from cases of bovine mastitis. Proceedings of the British Mastitis Conference (Garstang) 2003; 121-123. [Abstract]

Smith, E.M. (2002). Bovine staphylococcal mastitis. Proceedings of the British Mastitis Conference (Brockworth) 2002; 104. [Abstract]

Smith, E.M., Mason, D.J., Medley, G.F., Dow, C.S. and Green, L.E. (2001). Preliminary results of a method for the rapid detection of Staphylococcus aureus in milk. Proceedings of the British Mastitis Conference (Garstang) 2001; 100. [Abstract] 

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