Summary
Derek Bickhart is a bioinformatician with 12 years of experience applying genomics, microbiology, and genetics to improve food production systems across poultry, swine, turkey and aquaculture. Currently at Hendrix Genetics, he builds genomics resources, software tools, and algorithms to resolve genetic lineages and optimize production efficiency. His prior USDA-ARS roles ranged from research microbiologist to geneticist and postdoc, where he used high-throughput sequencing to characterize rumen microbiomes and identify putative causal variants in livestock. Derek holds an MS and PhD in Genetics and Genomics from the University of Connecticut and maintains an active GitHub (https://github.com/njdbickhart) sharing reusable scripts and pipelines. He combines hands-on molecular expertise with scalable data analytics, and is open to collaborations and consulting that bridge research and practical breeding outcomes. Notably, his work frequently translates complex variant discovery into tools that directly inform breeding and production decisions.
11 years of coding experience
BS, Biology, BS, Biology at Fairfield University
MS, Genetics and Genomics, MS, Genetics and Genomics at The University of Connecticut