HPU alumni Ashley Lockhart (left) and Jessica Hintzche (right) attended the Aquaculture Conference.
The AQUA 2024 Conference and Exposition was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from August 26-30, and was attended by more than 3,680 attendees, representing 80 countries. The conference had the highest attendance ever for a European aquaculture conference, reflecting the increasing importance of the aquaculture industry in providing a global population with high-quality seafood.
Dr. Shaun Moss, Executive Director at Oceanic Institute of HPU, chaired a technical session on crustacean aquaculture and shrimp genetics which included presentations from 14 scientists representing 10 countries. Dr. Dustin Moss, Director of Oceanic Institute’s Shrimp Department and HPU alum (BS Marine Biology, 1998), presented results from a USDA-funded project titled “Investigating low salinity performance of Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, using a genomic approach.” The crustaceans and shrimp genetics session was well attended and was “standing room only.”
Also in attendance were two other HPU alumni: Ashley Lockhart and Jessica Hintzche. Both graduated in 2017 with a BS in Marine Biology. Hintzche is a former undergraduate student of Dr. Dustin Moss, who is also an adjunct faculty member in the College of Natural and Computation Sciences and taught Hintzche in his Evolutionary Genetics course.
Currently, both Lockhart and Hintzche are second-year doctoral students in quantitative genetics at The University of Queensland in Australia. Lockhart presented her doctoral research titled, “On-farm genomics for selection and management in aquaculture tank-side genotyping” in the Genomics session of the AQUA 2024 Conference and Hintzche presented her doctoral research titled, “Leveraging genomics for precision farming: building sex-specific high-density linkage maps for Barramundi Lates calcarifer for accurate breeding program simulations” in the Precision Farming session of the conference.
HPU’s strong presence at AQUA 2024 highlights the University’s commitment to advancing marine science and aquaculture research on a global scale. The work presented by alumni and faculty demonstrates the far-reaching impact of HPU’s programs and the value of continued collaboration with international institutions. With HPU graduates contributing to cutting-edge research in aquaculture genetics, the University remains at the forefront of innovation in this vital industry.
To learn more about the Oceanic Institute at HPU, click here.
