The Pig Improvement Company is owned by Genus plc. which is the largest animal genetics company in the world, with businesses in cattle (ABS), pigs (PIC) and shrimps (SyAqua). Genus creates value through innovative application of quantitative genetics and biotechnology to animal breeding. In pigs, this is done through its subsidiary, PIC, the world’s largest pig breeding company with businesses in: the UK, France, Benelux, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, Czech and Romania. PIC was established in 1962 and has more than 15 years of experience in DNA marker development and marker assisted selection in pig breeding. Genus scientists perform microarray and gene expression work at its molecular biology laboratory located in the Department of Pathology, University Cambridge. The laboratory is well equipped and has built up its resources and expertise in both performing and analysing this type of work through its participation and coordination of previous FP5 EU funded projects (PathoCHIP, QLK2-CT-2000-00726 and Quality Pork Genes, QLK5-CT-2001-01888).