Team Serie: Who is Franz Seefried

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In our series “Who is…?” we introduce you to all of our team members.

Franz Seefried

  •  I have been employed at Qualitas AG since 1.3.2011. This makes me almost as “old” as Qualitas in its current function, as it was founded on 1.1.2011. I work as a geneticist in the area of breeding value estimation. The initial years included work in “conventional” breeding value estimation. The steady increase in the importance of SNP typing and the field of work behind it have led to my work being focused on this in recent years. I am not unhappy about this development.
  • I studied agricultural sciences at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Weihenstephan, specializing in “animal science”. After my studies, I also completed my PhD at the TUM, more precisely at the Department of Animal Breeding with Prof. Dr. Ruedi Fries, before accepting a position in the Biometrics and Breeding Value Estimation Division at vit – Verden in 2008. The work there was similar to what I do today. At the same time, I gained experience in everyday work before moving to Qualitas AG in 2011.
  • When I think back a long time and remember my time in school, one of the first positive memories that comes to mind is the biology lessons in the 10th grade. At that time, we dealt with the basics of DNA and mitosis/meiosis. This fascinated me from the beginning, although our biology teacher spread fear rather than fascination with reference to the upcoming sequencing of the human genome (the background to his skepticism was Germany’s simultaneous entry into the Human Genome Project in 1995). Because of a private connection to cattle breeding, I then began to study agricultural science. In the following, I consistently tried to reconcile my enthusiasm for genetics on the one hand and for farm animals on the other. Looking back now after 15 years in the professional field, I have succeeded quite well, regardless of “where” and “when”.
  • The last years have been characterised by interesting but also challenging projects with universities and PhD students. The projects have recently been based to a large extent on data (genotypes) that have arisen in the daily routine of genomic selection. This combination of research and practice was challenging. Due to the primarily research-oriented questions, we were able to expand the spectrum of tools (software) for Qualitas for the evaluation of population-wide genotypes.
  • In the last 10 years, Qualitas has given me a lot of freedom in shaping my daily work. In this context I had the opportunity to fundamentally redefine the field of genotyping including all upstream and downstream areas for the company. The always interesting topics of the past years played a major role in this. This provides energy and motivation for the future. I am curious to see what the future will bring.
  • I spend my free time either doing endurance sports (road biking, mountain biking, jogging, cross-country skiing, skiing), or with my family. Recently I have realised another childhood wish and started aquascaping.