Jude joined AbacusBio in 2007, as employee number 10 or 11. Her early years with the company focused on cost-benefit analyses of technology adoption in the sheep and beef sectors. She then moved her attention to greenhouse gas modelling for the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory. These days, Jude is busy in the forestry genetics space and heavily involved in developing DTreo Plants.
Q: Where did you spend your childhood years?
A: I grew up as a city kid in Dunedin, with zero knowledge of farming.
Q: What did you did you picture yourself doing, when you were growing up?
A: As a kid, I wanted to be a librarian, then a pharmacist. My family’s aspirations were for me to attend secretarial school, which was not my thing! The best option was to leave school at 17 and get a job.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I was a part-time “packer” at Kentucky Fried Chicken through my high school years. After leaving school, I trained as a medical laboratory technologist and worked in clinical biochemistry and toxicology labs.
Q: Where did you study?
A: I springboarded off my med lab tech qualifications into a part-time post-grad science programme at Lincoln University, alongside working full time. I graduated four years later with a master’s degree (first-class honours) in animal biochemistry.
Q: Briefly describe your career to date.
A: I spent eight years in the hospital system – five years as a trainee at Dunedin Hospital and three years as a fully-qualified medical laboratory technologist at Christchurch Hospital.
While in Christchurch, my husband Greg was also studying. When he graduated, he got a great job back in Dunedin. I could have gone back to the hospital system, but it felt like going backwards. Instead, at the start of 1989, I began working for MAFTech* in the molecular biology unit at Otago University. I started out doing lab work, dropped to one day per week when my children came along, then transitioned into data analysis in 1998, once the kids went to school.
From there, I continued down a combined lab and analysis route, with my core focus being development of DNA pedigree testing in sheep. This involved helping develop the original test protocols and included time in the sheep yards collecting pin prick blood samples for testing. It also involved working on analysis models (Excel and code based) and triggered my move into data analysis. This enabled me to widen my scope and eventually end up at AbacusBio.
Q: What year did you join AbacusBio?
A: I started in April 2007 and was number 10 or 11 employee. Four of us joined over a six-month period. (Tim Byrne, Simon Glennie, myself and then Anna Campbell.)
Q: How did you come to be at AbacusBio?
I was always aware of AbacusBio and, one day while meeting with Neville (Jopson) as part of my AgResearch role* Peter Amer popped his head out of his office and said, “Hey Jude, if you’re ever interested in a job, come and talk to us”. As time moved on and my work interests began to shift, I plucked up the courage to email Peter and ask if he was serious. It turns out he was. A couple of months later, I resigned from AgResearch and took on a contractor role with AbacusBio.
Q: Was AbacusBio what you anticipated?
A: Yes and no. I was totally intimidated at first, nervous about my ability to succeed in such a high-performing environment. But I absolutely loved the quirky culture and found my feet within six months.
Q: Describe your role at AbacusBio.
A: Having been here nearly 20 years, I’ve covered a lot of ground. My initial focus was cost-benefit analyses of technology adoption in the sheep and beef sectors. I then shifted into greenhouse gas modelling, with much of my time spent developing population, liveweight and feed models for the New Zealand Greenhouse Gas Inventory team.
Following the 2019 AbacusBio merger with Gemnetics Ltd – a specialist plant and tree breeding data management company – I found myself working in the forestry genetics space. While initially challenging (sheep are very different from trees), genetics is genetics! These days, much of my work is focused on developing a genetic improvement programme to support an integrated breeding/production system for Radiata Pine.
Alongside consultant Martyn Haigh, I’m also heavily involved in development of our DTreo Plants platform and excited about the potential of DTreo to support genetic improvement initiatives in the forestry sector.
Q: Tell us about the Gemnetics merger?
A: In the early days, AbacusBio was known primarily for its expertise in livestock and aquaculture; it had no real track record in plant or tree breeding. Mike and Sue Carson, who had over 20 years’ experience in tree breeding and a suite of software to support genetic improvement initiatives in forestry, were looking at options to expand their business and ensure continuity, post their retirements.
Q: What is DTreo Plants and how did it come to be?
A: DTreo Plants has its roots in the Gemnetics suite of software which matured over 20-plus years. Advances in technology and increasing client demand for self-service data management created the need for a modern replacement.
DTreo Plants was developed to bring together the core features and functionality of the Gemnetics software into a single, modern application and code base. The goal was to transition away from bespoke customer deployments, toward a scalable product platform that enables clients to manage and load their own data, while developing custom reports and analytics tailored to their specific requirements.
Q: Describe the team involved in DTreo Plants?
A: A key strength of the DTreo Plants team is its composition. It brings together software developers, client managers and geneticists. This combination of expertise enables the team to develop solutions that are technically robust and aligned with clients’ practical needs.
The development team:
- Martyn Haigh – Lead Developer
- Jamie Horrell – User experience design
- Jolene van Tonder – Analytics platform reporting
- Mark Teviotdale – Chief Information Officer, and
- Fiona Hely – Systems and Tools Lead for AbacusBio.
The genetics team:
- Jude Sise
- Bruno Santos
- Marcello Mollinari
- Mason Chizk
- Mariana Vianna.
Working collaboratively, this team ensures the platform continues to meet the evolving needs of its users.
* MAFTech was the research and technology transfer arm of the former Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) in New Zealand. It later became part of AgResearch.
# Ministry for Primary Industries.
If you would like to talk with Jude, email jsise@abacusbio.com
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