Jan Lassen

Tell us about yourself (Who are you? Where are you from? What is your educational background?)

I was born and raised on a dairy farm in the northern part of Denmark. Here there was a big focus on genetics, and I was sure I wanted to be a breeding advisor. During my studies at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University in Copenhagen I tried to be a breeding advisor for some months and found out that it was not really something for me. Instead I found interest in the more theoretical part of quantitative genetics and have since worked in science.

What is your area of expertise?

I am a quantitative geneticist, and my primary interest is to investigate new traits of economic importance for farmers that is not already under selection. Currently my main focus in that respect is feed efficiency, rumen microbial composition and methane.

Where does your focus lie within your current project(s)? (related to methane)

I try to estimate the genetic relation between methane emission, rumen metagenomics, methane emission, feed efficiency and milk composition on a limited number of cows. At the same time we are investigating if there are some of the more normally measured traits in commercial farms that we can use as indicators.

What would be the added value for you of joining an international researchers network? (such as the METHAGENE network, or the RuminOmics project)

I am the vice chair of METHAGENE and I really think we have a project there that lives up to the requirement of a COST Action. We have essentially the same goal all of us, but we have very different backgrounds and opinions on how to get there, so we need these discussions that we have there. My personal benefit from METHAGENE is to expand my network and hopefully be part of new initiatives in the future together with some of the people that are active in the project.

What and/or who inspired you to make a career in science?

I truly believe I can make a difference for the farmers, and I really enjoy when I can provide them with solutions. That is my drive. I think many of my current and former colleagues are a daily inspiration.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

Networking! The most recent projects I have been a part of have been highly interdisciplinary and as frustrating as that can be it is also very giving. I enjoy meeting new people and I think it is fantastic when you meet someone with the solution to one of your small problems that has been solved in another discipline. I also really enjoy being a supervisor for PhD students.

What is your most stand-out or surprising moment in science so far?

I think the area of host-rumen microbial interaction is revealing a number of spectacular results these days, and I am sure much more is to come…