about me
EMPLOYMENT
October 2025 - present: Postdoctoral Associate (VPR Match Funding Fellow)
University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Jocelyn Poissant’s lab
March - August 2025: Guest Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Calgary, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Jocelyn Poissant’s lab
June 2024 – September 2025: Research and Teaching Assistant
Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Sciences, Department of Animal Genetics and Conservation, Warsaw, Poland
DEGREES
October 2020 – February 2025: PhD, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Institute of Animal Science, Department of Animal Genetics and Conservation, Warsaw, Poland
Dissertation: Population Structure and the Assessment of the Conformation and Movement of the Purebred Arabian Horses
March 2019 – July 2020: MSc (with distinction), Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Department of Animal Breeding, Bioengineering and Conservation, Warsaw, Poland
Thesis: Factors influencing racing performance in Polish Thoroughbreds and Purebred Arabian Horses
October 2015 – February 2019: Engineer (Eng/BSc), Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Department of Animal Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
non-degree training
September 2023 – February 2024: Visiting Researcher, Brooks Equine Genetics Lab, Department of Animal Sciences, Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA (supervisor: Prof. Samantha A. Brooks).
November – December 2022: NAWA PROM PhD Candidate fellow, Centre for Anthropobiology and Genomics of Toulouse, Paul Sabatier University Toulouse III, Toulouse, France (supervisor: Prof. Ludovic Orlando)
March – April 2022: Visiting Researcher, Genomics Lab, Department of Animal Molecular Biology, National Research Institute of Animal Production, Kraków-Balice, Poland (supervisor: Dr. Monika Stefaniuk-Szmukier)
January – June 2022: 500 Innovators/Fulbright Poland TopMinds training & mentoring program mentee, Warsaw, Poland (mentor: Dr. Maria Górna)
publications
9. Stefaniuk-Szmukier M., Klecel W., Szmatoła T., Ropka-Molik K. (2026): Associations of genetic variants in the PPARD gene to racing performance in pigeons (Columba livia). Developmental Biology 530, 260-264.
8. Klecel W., Rahael H., Brooks S.A. (2025): refineDLC: an advanced post-processing pipeline for DeepLabCut outputs. Biology Methods and Protocols, 10 (1), bpaf084
7. Gmel A., Lamas L.P., Rosa T.V., Stefaniuk-Szmukier M., Klecel W., Martin-Gimenez T., Cruz A.M., Weishaupt Michael A., Neuditschko M. (2024): Shape and joint angle data for seven European horse breeds and their repeatability. Data in Brief, 56, 110799.
6. Gmel A., Haraldsdóttir E.H., Serra-Bragança F., Lamas L.P., Rosa T.V., Stefaniuk-Szmukier M., Klecel W., Neuditschko M., Weishaupt M.A. (2024): Inertial sensor data of horses from four breeds at walk and trot in hand on a straight line. Data in Brief 55 (1), 110764
5. Klecel W., Kloch M., Wojciechowska M., Gajewska M., Martyniuk E. (2024). Population structure and genetic diversity of Polish Arabian horses based on pedigree data. animal 18 (5), 101148
4. Klecel W., Drobik-Czwarno W., Martyniuk E. (2023). Judging the Arabian beauty: what are the relationships between scores in different categories? Journal of Equine Veterinary Science 123, 104247
3. Myćka G., Klecel W., Stefaniuk-Szmukier M., Jaworska J., Musiał A.D., Ropka-Molik K. (2022). Mitochondrial whole d-loop variability in Polish Draft Horses. Animals, 12(15), 1870
2. Klecel, W, Martyniuk, E. (2021). From the Eurasian steppes to the Roman circuses: A review of early development of horse breeding and management. Animals, 11(7), 1859
1.Klecel W., Drobik-Czwarno W., Martyniuk E. (2021). Factors influencing racing performance in Polish Thoroughbreds and Purebred Arabian horses. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 100, 103499
contact me
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