Research

Main area of research is molecular genetics and genetic diversity in poultry, in particular the use of molecular markers for assessing and evaluating poultry genetic ressources.

Other positions

• Former coordinator of a European chicken biodiversity project funded by the European Commission (AVIANDIV).
• Member of the World's Poultry Science Association (WPSA), and chairman of the Working Group 3 “Breeding and Genetics” of the European Federation of WPSA,
• Member of the International Society for Animal Genetics (ISAG), and member of FAO/ISAG advisory group on farm animal genetic diversity
• Chairman of the National Consortium for Conservation of Animal Genetic Diversity in Germany.

Recent Publications

Weigend S, Lamont SJ (1999). Analysis of MHC class II and class IV Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism in Chicken Lines Divergently Selected for Multitrait Immune Response. Poultry Sci. 78:973–982.

Weigend S, Matthes S, Soelkner H, and Lamont SJ (2001) Effects of Avian Leukosis Virus Infection Genotype, Reciprocal Mating, and MHC on Resistance to Marek’s Disease Virus in an F2 White Leghorn Cross. Poultry Science 80:1064-1072.

Wang M, Weigend S, Barre-Dirie A, Carnwath JW, Zhonglin L, Niemann H (2003) Analysis of two Chinese yak (Bos grunniens) population using bovine microsatellite primers. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 120:237-241.

Hillel J, Groenen MAM, Tixier-Boichard M, Korol AB, David L, Kirzhner VM, Burke T, Barre-Dirie A, Crooijmans RPMA, Elo K, Feldman MW, Freidlin PJ, Mäki-Tanila A, Ortwijn M, Thomson P, Vignal A, Wimmers K, Weigend S (2003) Biodiversity of 52 chicken populations assessed by microsatellite typing of DNA pools. Genet. Sel. Evol. 35:533-557.

Ben-Avraham D, Blum S, Granevitze Z, Weigend S, Cheng H, and Hillel J (2006) W-specific microsatellite loci detected by in silico analysis map to chromosome Z of the chicken genome. Animal Genetics 37(2):180-181.

Twito, T., Weigend, S., Blum, S., Granevitze, Z., Feldman, M.W., Perl-Treves, R., Lavi, U., Hillel, J. (2006) Biodiversity of 20 Chicken Breeds Assessed by SNPs in coding regions. Cytogenetics and Genome Research (in press)

Hillel, J., Granevitze, Z., Twito, T., Ben-Avraham, D., Blum, S., Lavi, U., David, L., Feldman, M.W., Cheng, H., Weigend, S. (2007) Molecular markers for the assessment of chicken biodiversity. World's Poultry Science Journal, 63:33-45, March 2007.

Muchadeyi, F.C., Eding, H., Wollny, C.B.A., Groeneveld, E., Makuza, S.M., Shamseldin, R., Simianer, H., Weigend S. (2007) Absence of population sub structuring in the Zimbabwe chicken eco-types inferred using microsatellite markers. Animal Genetics, 38:332-339.

Muchadeyi, F. C, H. Eding, H. Simianer, C. B. A. Wollny, E. Groeneveld, and S. Weigend. 2008. Mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequences suggest a Southeast Asian and Indian origin of Zimbabwean village chickens. Animal Genetics 39:615-622.

Guohong Chen, Wenbin Bao, Jingting Shu, Congliang Ji, Minqiang Wang, H. Eding, F. Muchadeyi, and S. Weigend. 2008. Assessment of population structure and genetic diversity of 15 Chinese indigenous chicken breeds using microsatellite markers. Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 21(3):331-339.