Personal information
Biography
Prof.dr.dr.h.c. Ino Čurik graduated in Animal Science in 1991, obtained his Master's degree (Biomathematics) in 1995 and a PhD in Animal Science from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, in 2000. In 2016, he was appointed professor at the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture (Croatia), where he is a lecturer in animal breeding, conservation and population genetics. From the 1st June to 31st December appointed research professor at University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE), Hungary. His first major scientific collaborative success was the identification of the gene, a 4.6 kb duplication in intron 6 of STX17 (syntaxin-17), which is responsible for greying of the coat in horses and has a major impact on melanoma, vitiligo and greying, which was published in Nature Genetics. Following this work, the genetic architecture of greying, melanoma and vitiligo was investigated, showing that a single gene “grey gene” widely distributed in a population can make a considerable contribution to quantitative traits, in addition to polygenic inheritance. However, recognition was acknowledged for the work on inbreeding and inbreeding depression, especially in the context of genomic approaches in domestic animals. For example, four papers on genomic inbreeding and inbreeding depression in cattle have been cited over 500 times. In recent years, he has worked to advance knowledge on the use of complete mitogenome information in cattle breeding. First, he co-authored the study in which haplotype P was found for the first time in modern cattle. This was the first convincing evidence of rare female-mediated adaptive introgression from wild aurochs into domesticated cattle in Europe. This finding improved our understanding of the domestication process in cattle. Second, he documented the pathology of the first deleterious mitochondrial mutation in cattle, mutation T10432C, which causes LHON disease in humans at position T10663C, and demonstrated its homoplasmic inheritance pattern. Third, in collaboration with NEOGEN Genomics (Lincoln, NE, USA), 310 SNPs were integrated and validated in the commercial GGP Bovine 100K SNP array. In addition to these achievements, he has presented the genetic/genomic characterization of many indigenous domestic breeds in a number of publications. Finally, it is important to highlight the contribution made through the MendTheGap project to establish and promote collaboration between geneticists and other scientists of the past in Croatia and beyond. This collaboration opens up new possibilities and perspectives for Croatian archaeology, as archaeogenetics is an “elitist” and rapidly growing field of science. Overall, the scientific work and contributions have been recognized in Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary. In 2004 he received the "Best paper and presentation" award" for scientists up to 38 years of age in the section "Horse production" for the paper "Quantitative inheritance of the coat greying process in horse" (55th Annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Bled, Slovenia). In 2013, he received the "Chart Award" ("Povelja" in Croatian) for exceptional merits and contributions to science, teaching and professional work, as well as for his contribution to the reputation of the Faculty and the profession of agricultural science in Croatia and the world, awarded by the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Agriculture. in 2014, he was awarded the National Award for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in Biotechnology by the Republic of Croatia. In 2020, the Biotechnical Faculty of the University of Ljubljana awarded him the prize for the remarkable contribution in research and teaching. The prize is awarded to scientists who are not members of the University of Ljubljana. In 2022, awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, Austria. In 2023 University of Zagreb has given him Praemium Biotechnicum award by for scientific and educational results, promotion of biotechnical disciplines and professions, transfer of knowledge and education of young scientists and experts in the biotechnical field. As supervisor or co-supervisor, he was involved in nine doctoral theses, which ended with a large number of joint publications, while two dissertations are in progress. Within a last period, he was granted several major projects. Leader of the project "Establishment of the Laboratory for Archaeogenetics at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture" (2019-2021). The project was funded under the call "Developing and strengthening synergies with horizontal Horizon 2020 activities: twinning and ERA Chairs" (KK.01.1.1.06), funded by the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds and MZO (Ministry of Science and Education, Croatia). The value of the project: 200,000 EUR. Leader of the project entitled "Smart Integration of Genetics with Sciences of the Past in Croatia: Minding and Mending the Gap" – MendTheGap (2016