Dr. Brenda M. Murdoch is an Associate Professor at the Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences, University of Idaho. She holds a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. from University of Alberta. Her research focuses on characterizing the relationship between genetic variation in mammals and traits that are valued and important to society. She exploits a number of molecular and genetic tools to further improve our understanding of how these variations affect biological processes of both undesirable and desirable phenotypic traits. She has authored/co-authored more than 70 publications in international peer-reviewed journals.