Irina Polejaeva

College of Agriculture and Applied Sciences

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Sciences

Dr. Irina Polejaeva is a Professor in the Animal, Dairy and Veterinary Sciences Department. Her research includes production of genetically engineered animals using Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) for biomedical and agricultural applications, genome editing to enhance livestock production traits and disease resistance and improving the efficiency of SCNT. Her work in the area of developing genetically engineered large animal models for biomedical research and investigating human diseases has been truly groundbreaking. Work by Dr. Polejaeva produced genetically modified goat models for atrial fibrillation, cancer and human polyclonal antibody production, and sheep models for Cystic Fibrosis. Dr. Polejaeva has established an outstanding research program supported by diverse external funding including federal grants from the National Institute of Health and the United StatesDepartment of Agriculture, competitive grants from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the American Heart Association. Over the last 3 years Dr.Polejaeva secured nearly 5.5 million extramural research dollars for 22 projects. During the same time, her laboratory published 12 peer-reviewed manuscripts, 14 peer-reviewed abstracts and gave over 40 off-campus presentations. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and expertise with postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students. She mentored 18 students and trainees in the last three years.