Penny Riggs
Dr. Penny Riggs is an Associate Professor of Functional Genomics in the Department of Animal Science and serves as Associate Vice President for Research at Texas A&M University. She is an adjunct member of the Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences. Her current research focuses on analysis of gene, RNA and protein expression, function and signaling relevant to the inheritance of production traits and disease susceptibility in beef cattle and other food animals, particularly in skeletal muscle. Other work is focused on whole genome sequencing of bacterial pathogens. Additional interests are in the application of genome technologies and genetic modifiers of disease susceptibility, and in the role of animal agriculture and biotechnology in ensuring food and nutritional security..
She earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s in cytogenetics from Purdue University and completed a doctorate in the Interdisciplinary Program in Genetics at Texas A&M University. She conducted postdoctoral work as a Texas Aerospace Fellow at the University of Houston and the NASA L.B. Johnson Space Center, and in the Department of Carcinogenesis at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center’s Science Park – Research Division.
