Ridwan Olawale Ahmed

A professional with strong experience in research of applied genetics and genomics to livestock breeding. Skilled with knowledge of quantitative genetics, genomics data analysis, application and interpretation. Experience working with several livestock species including chicken, cattle and aquaculture. A solid track record for effective collaboration, adaptability, and consistently achieving impactful results. A professional with excellent communication, critical thinking, and problem-solving abilities.

• Raymo, G., Ali, A., Ahmed, R. O., & Salem, M., 2024, Early-Life Fecal Transplantation from High Muscle Yield Rainbow Trout to Low Muscle Yield Recipients Accelerates Somatic Growth through Respiratory and Mitochondrial Efficiency Modulation., Microorganisms, 12, 2, 261
• Ahmed, R. O., Ali, A., Leeds, T., & Salem, M., 2023, Fecal Microbiome Analysis Distinguishes Bacterial Taxa Biomarkers Associated with Red Fillet Color in Rainbow Trout., Microorganisms, 11, 11, 2704
• Ahmed, R. O., Ali, A., Leeds, T., & Salem, M., 2023, RNA-Seq analysis of the pyloric caecum, liver, and muscle reveals molecular mechanisms regulating fillet color in rainbow trout., BMC genomics, 24, 1, 1-18
• Ahmed, R. O., Ali, A., Al-Tobasei, R., Leeds, T., Kenney, B., & Salem, M., 2022, Weighted Single-Step GWAS Identifies Genes Influencing Fillet Color in Rainbow Trout., Genes, 13, 8, 1331

• Plant and Animal Genome 2025 (PAG 32)
• Aquaculture America 2024
• Genomes of Animals and Plants 2023 (GAP ’23)
• Plant and Animal Genome Conference 2023 (PAG 30)
• Breeding Program Modelling with AlphaSimR
• Implementing Genomic Selection: From Theory to Practice with ASReml-R. A course offered by VSN International
• University of Washington 2022 Summer Institute of Statistical Genetics (SISG) certifications in Quantitative Genetics, Mixed Models in Quantitative Genetics, Association Mapping: GWAS and Sequencing Data.

• Member, Board of Governing Council, American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists (ARPAS) D.C Chapter, 01/01/24 - Present

Organized monthly seminar for the Animal Science community., Organized yearly symposium for the Animal Science community, Organized and coordinated grants and internship opportunities to University of Maryland undergraduate Animal science students.

• Treasurer, Animal Science Graduate Student Association (ASGA), UMD, 01/01/24 - Present

Re-registered the association with the University, Organized welcome event for new graduate students, Opened a Bank account for the association, Developed a website and social media presence for the association, Organized social events for the association.

Projects

Omics approach to improving fillet yield and quality traits in Rainbow trout: This research advances the development of genetically improved strains of fish that will improve production efficiency and sustainability of the US rainbow trout aquaculture industry.

Showed the usability of SNP-array and cheaper 1x low pass WGS data in rainbow genomics studies

Showed that using 1x WGS in genomic prediction outperform pedigree-based prediction

Showed that the gut microbiome can explain up to 10% of the phenotypic variance

Showed that the inclusion of microbiome information in genomic prediction can improve prediction accuracy by up to 4%.

Used GWAS, Differential Gene Expression analysis, Expression QTL analysis to identify candidate genes for fillet yield and quality traits

Identified SNPs that control traits of interest by modulating levels of gene expression.

Performed GWAS using structural variants (SV) and identified SVs that influence fillet yield and quality traits.

Performed microbiome GWAS and identified microbiome biomarkers for fillet yield and quality traits

Identified SNPs within transcription factor binding sites (TFBS) and those in microRNA target sites whose polymorphisms affect the binding of these gene expression regulators and influences variability on our traits of interest.

Investigation of the unique genetic polymorphisms across several growth and disease resistance genes in African cattle breeds:Cattle production is integral to the people of Africa and her economy. To improve cattle productivity, there is a need to inculcate molecular marker-assisted selection into current breeding practices. We investigated genetic polymorphisms of SMO, LMF1, DGAT1 and BoLA-DRB.3genes in White Fulani and Muturu cattle breeds and their associations with growth and disease resistance.

Used Sanger sequencing and Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP) to investigate and compare genetic polymorphisms amongst African cattle breeds

Reported unique BoLA-DRB.3 alleles in Muturu cattle breed compared to European breeds

Found association between body weight and LMF1, SMO genes in white Fulani and Muturu cattle breeds

The genome resources obtained from this research are still being used as a teaching and research resource at Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom.

ABG01X: Genetic Models for Animal Breeding – Weigenigen University & Research via Edx (Online course)