Masoud Shirali is quantitative geneticist at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute Hillsborough livestock production sciences branch. Currently, he is leading the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute Farm Animal Bioinformatics (AFBI FAB). He developed and leads the Northern Ireland Farm Animal Biobank (NIFAB) project to utilize multi-omics data in animal breeding research. He received his Ph.D. in Animal Science from the University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran (2007–2012). His research is focused on developing cutting-edge statistical and omics-based methods to unravel the genetic background of complex traits and diseases. Areas of research focus include: (1) understanding the biological basis of complex traits and diseases in humans and animals; and (2) developing cutting-edge models by utilizing machine learning in multi-omics data such as genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics data to predict difficult-to-measure phenotypes.