Larry A. Kuehn

Phone: (402) 762-4352

Dr. Kuehn’s research program focuses on genetic improvement of cattle and swine through genetic selection on phenotypic and genetic marker data.  Genetic markers, such as single nucleotide polymorphisms, can help us to determine the genetic merit of candidate animals without individual or progeny phenotypic data.  This proxy is particularly useful for traits that are prohibitive to measure due to time (e.g., longevity) or expense (e.g., carcass tenderness).  Dr. Kuehn is responsible for the analysis of marker data to determine whether they are a useful indicator of genetic merit for multiple traits. To that end, he is involved with software development for statistical genetics applications and evaluation of analysis methods through simulation.  He is also involved with annual updates to adjustment factors used to compare genetic predictions of growth and carcass traits across breeds of beef cattle.