Daniel C. Ciobanu

Post-doctorate, Swine Molecular Genetics, Iowa State University, 1999-2002
Ph.D., Animal Breeding and Genetics, Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, Bucharest, Romania, 1999
B.S., Animal Science, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 1992

Dr. Daniel Ciobanu joined the Department of Animal Science as an Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics in 1999 and has served as a Professor of Molecular Genetics since 2020. He is currently a member of the Nebraska Center for Virology, and is a courtesy faculty member in both the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the School of Biological Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Since 2010, Dr. Ciobanu has taught Genome Analysis (ASCI 432/832), a course designed for graduate and advanced undergraduate students from all areas of life sciences. In this class, the students are introduced to structure and function of eukaryotic genomes and to strategies to identify and characterize genetic variants responsible for phenotypic differences.

His research involves the application of functional genomics approaches in order to identify genes, DNA polymorphisms and pathways associated with variation of complex phenotypes, including viral disease resistance (Porcine circovirus 2, Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Virus, Atypical Porcine Pestivirus, etc.) and sow fertility.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• Ribeiro AMF, Sanglard LP, Wijesena HR, Ciobanu DC, Horvath S, Spangler ML. DNA methylation profile in beef cattle is influenced by additive genetics and age. Sci Rep. 2022 Jul 14;12(1):12016. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-16350-9.

• Sutton KM, Eaton CW, Borza T, Burkey TE, Mote BE, Loy JD, Ciobanu DC. Genetic Diversity and Detection of Atypical Porcine Pestivirus Infections. J Anim Sci. 2022 Jan 1;100(1):skab360. doi: 10.1093/jas/skab360.

• Johnson RK, Trenhaile-Grannemann MD, Moreno R, Ciobanu DC, Miller PS. Effects of restricting energy during the gilt development period on growth and reproduction of lines differing in lean growth rate: responses in reproductive performance and longevity. J Anim Sci. 2022 Jan 1;100(1):skab352. doi:10.1093/jas/skab352.

• Wijesena HR, Kachman SD, Lents CA, Riethoven JJ, Trenhaile-Grannemann MD, Safranski TJ, Spangler ML, Ciobanu DC. Fine mapping genetic variants associated with age at puberty and sow fertility using Sowpro90 genotyping array, J Anim Sci. 2020, September 4. doi: 10.1093/jas/skaa293
• Sutton KM, Lahmers KK, Harris SP, Wijesena HR, Mote BE, Kachman SD, Borza T, Ciobanu DC. Detection of Atypical Porcine Pestivirus Genome in Newborn Piglets Affected by Congenital Tremor and High Pre-weaning Mortality. J Anim Sci. 2019 Aug 9. doi: 10.1093/jas/skz267. PMID:31396615.
• Wijesena HR, Rohrer GA, Nonneman DJ, Keel BN, Petersen JL, Kachman SD, Ciobanu DC. Evaluation of genotype quality parameters for SowPro90, a novel genotyping array for swine, J Anim Sci. 2019, May 31. doi: 10.1093/jas/skz185.
• Walker LR, Jobman EE, Sutton KM, Wittler J, Johnson R, Ciobanu DC. Genome-wide association analysis for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus susceptibility traits in two genetic populations of pigs. J Anim Sci. 2019, May 31 doi:10.1093/jas/skz184.
• Walker L.R., T. B. Engle, H. Vu, E.R. Tosky, D.J. Nonneman, T.P.L. Smith, T. Borza, T.E. Burkey, G.S. Plastow, S.D. Kachman, D.C. Ciobanu (2018) Host genetics influences replication of Porcine circovirus 2, submitted to PLoS Genetics, Oct 31;14(10):e1007750. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007750. eCollection 2018 Oct.

• Walker L.R., E.R. Tosky, K.M. Sutton, R. Griess, M.D. Abebe, S.Y. Barnes, T. Cunningham, S.D. Kachman, M.K. Nielsen, D.C. Ciobanu (2017) A 16.7 kb deletion in Sipa1l3 is associated with juvenile cataract in mice. Mamm Genome. 2017 Dec 28(11-12):515-519.
• Wijesena H. R., C. A. Lents, J.-J. Riethoven, M. D. Trenhaile-Grannemann, J. F. Thorson, B. N. Keel, P. S. Miller, M. L. Spangler, S. D. Kachman, D. C. Ciobanu (2017) Integration of Genomic Approaches to Uncover Sources of Variation in Age at Puberty and Reproductive Longevity in Sows, Journal of Animal Science 2017 Sep;95(9):4196-4205.
• Wang, X., Pandey, A. P., Mozhui, K. M., Li, Z. L., Williams, E. W., Auwerx, J. A., Quarles, D. Q., Xiao, Z. X., Huang, J. H., Capra, J. A. C., Pollard, K. P., Aggarwal, R. A., Ciobanu, D., Church, D. C., Reznik, A. R., Tishkov, A. T., Igor, Z. I., Chen, Z. C., Nelson, S. N., Taylor, W. T., Denny, J. D., Lu, L. L., Peng, J. P., W. Williams, R. Experimental Phenome-Wide Association Using Whole Genome Sequence. Nat Commun. 2016 Feb 2;7:10464. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10464.
• Trenhaile M.D., J. Petersen, S.D. Kachman, R. K. Johnson, D.C. Ciobanu, Long-term selection for litter size in swine results in shifts in allelic frequency in regions involved in reproductive processes, Anim Genet. 2016 May 26. doi: 10.1111/age.12448.
• Lucot K.L., M.L. Spangler, M.D. Trenhaile, S.D. Kachman, D.C. Ciobanu, (2015) Evaluation of reduced subsets of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms for the prediction of age at puberty and reproductive longevity in sows, Animal Genetics, 46(4):403-9.
• Morota G., Peñagaricano F., Petersen J.L., Ciobanu D.C., Tsuyuzaki K., Nikaido I. (2015), An application of MeSH enrichment analysis in livestock. Anim. Genet. Aug; 46(4):381-7.
• Kreikemeier C.A., T.B. Engle, K.L. Lucot, S.D. Kachman, T.E. Burkey, D.C. Ciobanu, (2015) Genome-wide Analysis of TNF-alpha Response in Pigs Challenged with Porcine Circovirus 2b, Animal Genetics, Apr;46(2):205-8.
• Engle T.B., E.E. Jobman, T.W. Moural, A.M. McKnite, J.W. Bundy, S.Y. Barnes, E.H. Davis, J.A. Galeota, T.E. Burkey, G.S. Plastow, S.D. Kachman, D.C. Ciobanu (2014) Variation in time and magnitude of immune response and viremia in experimental challenges with Porcine circovirus 2b, BMC Veterinary Research Dec 4;10 (1): 286.
• McKnite A.M., J.W. Bundy, T.W. Moural, J.K. Tart, T.P. Johnson, E.E. Jobman, S.Y. Barnes, J.K. Qiu, D.A. Peterson, S.P. Harris, M.F. Rothschild, J.A. Galeota, R.K. Johnson, S.D. Kachman, D.C. Ciobanu (2014) Genomic analysis of the differential response to experimental infection with Porcine Circovirus 2b, Animal Genetics, Apr;45(2):205-14.
• Howard J. T., S. D. Kachman, W. M. Snelling, E. J. Pollak, D. C. Ciobanu, L. A. Kuehn, M. L. Spangler (2013) A genome-wide association study for body temperature regulation during periods of heat and cold stress in beef cattle, International Journal of Biometeorology, Sep;58(7):1665-72.
• Tart J.K., R.K. Johnson, J.W. Bundy, N.N. Ferdinand, A.M. McKnite, J.R. Wood, P.S. Miller, M.F. Rothschild, M.L. Spangler, D.J. Garrick, S.D. Kachman, D.C. Ciobanu (2013) Genome-wide prediction of age at puberty and reproductive longevity in sows, Animal Genetics, Aug;44(4):387-97.
• McKnite A.M, Perez-Munoz M.E., Lu L., Williams E.G., Brewer S., Andreux P., Wang X., Kachman S.D., Auwerx J., Williams R.W., Benson A.K., Peterson D.P., Ciobanu D.C (2012) Murine Gut Microbiota is Defined by Host Genetics and Modulates Variation of Metabolic Traits, PLoS One, 7(6):e39191. Epub 2012 Jun 18.
• Whitney I.E., Raven M.A., Ciobanu D.C., Poché R.A., Ding Q., Elshatory Y., Gan L., Williams R.W., Reese B.E. (2011) Genetic modulation of horizontal cell number in the mouse retina. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 108: 9697-9702.
• Mozhui, K., R.-M. Karlsson, T.L. Kash, J. Ihne, M. Norcross, S. Patel, M. Camp, H.A. Cameron, D.C. Ciobanu, D.G. Winder, R.W. Williams, A. Holmes (2010) Neuronal and molecular correlates of trait and stress-induced variation in anxiety-like behavior between genetic mouse strains, Journal of Neuroscience 30: 5357-67.
• Kinghorn, B.P., J.W.M. Bastiaansen, D.C. Ciobanu, H.A.M. van der Steen (2010) Quantitative genotyping to estimate genetic contributions to pooled samples and genetic merit of the contributing entities. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section A 60: 3-12.
• Ciobanu D.C., L. Lu, K. Mozui, X. Wang, M. Jagalur, J.A. Morris, W.L. Taylor, K. Dietz, P. Simon, R.W. Williams (2010) Dissection of expression variation and downstream analysis of cis-modulation. Genetics 184, 119-28.
• Du Z.-Q., D.C. Ciobanu, S.K. Onteru, D. Gorbach, A.J. Mileham, G. Jaramillo, M.F. Rothschild (2009) A Gene-based SNP Linkage Map for Pacific White Shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Animal Genetics doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2052.2009.02002.x.
• Ciobanu, D.C., J.W.M. Bastiaansen, J. Magrin, J.L. Rocha, D.-H. Jiang, N. Yu, B. Geiger, N. Deeb, D. Rocha, H. Gong, B.P. Kinghorn, G.S. Plastow, H.A.M. van der Steen and A.J. Mileham (2010) A major SNP resource for dissection of phenotypic and genetic variation in Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei). Animal Genetics doi:10.1111/j.1365-2052.
• Mozhui K., Ciobanu D.C., Schikorski T., Wang X., Lu L., Williams R.W., (2008). Dissection of a QTL hotspot on mouse distal chromosome 1 that modulates neurobehavioral phenotypes and gene expression. PLoS Genet. 4: e1000260.
• Whitney I.E., M.A. Raven, D.C. Ciobanu, R.W. Williams, B.E. Reese (2009) Multiple genes on chromosome 7 regulate dopaminergic amacrine cell number in the mouse retina. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 50: 1996-2003.
• Olsen, C.M., Y. Huang, S. Goodwin, D.C. Ciobanu, L. Lu, T.R. Sutter, D.G. Winder (2007) Microarray analysis reveals distinctive signaling between the Bed Nucleus of the Stria Terminalis, Nucleus Accumbens, and Dorsal Striatum. Physiological Genomics 12, 1212-24.
• Ciobanu D.C., Bastiaansen J.W., Lonergan S.M., Thomsen H., Dekkers J.C., Plastow G.S., Rothschild M.F. 2004, New alleles in calpastatin gene are associated with meat quality traits in pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 82: 2829-39.
• Ciobanu D.C., J. Bastiaansen, M. Malek, J. Helm, J. Woollard, G. Plastow and M. Rothschild, 2001, Evidence for new alleles in the protein kinase AMP-activated, gamma 3 subunit gene associated with low glycogen content in pig skeletal muscle and improved meat quality, Genetics 159:1151-62.