Professor Tadeusz Antoni Jezierski, PhD, DSc

Full professor in the Department of Animal Behaviour and Welfare of the Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology of Polish Academy of Sciences

Research interests

Genetics and epigenetics of animal behaviour and welfare.
Impact of human-animal interactions on animal behaviour, welfare and utilization.
Animals’ sense of smell, its biological role and biodetection of odours
Operant conditioning of dogs for detection, discrimination and identification of odours

Protection of genetic resources in horse breeding

Scientific achievements

319 publications, including 73 publications in journals on the JCR list. Author of  4 books and 10 book chapters.

Total number of citations: approximately 1200,  Hirsch index – 17

Selected research achievements

He is a pioneer of scientific research on canine sense of smell and using trained dogs for detection and identification of odours by Polish Police. In 2016 he published in the USA, as the first editor  in cooperation with American researchers  John Ensminger and Gene Papet a unique scientific book worldwide, on all  aspects of canine sense of smell and its practical use.
He developed an objective method for assessment the reliabilidity and validity of  canine detection or discrimination of various odours, both in odour lineup in a laboratory setting (individual human scent, odour markers of cancer diseases in humans), as well as in field settings (odours of narcotics and explosives).

He has identified unknown mechanisms of intra-species olfactory communications in horses and dogs.

In his earlier studies he proved the importance of human-animal interactions for horse welfare with special consideration of  native Konik breed. More recently he analysed the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on welfare of companion animals (dogs and cats).  

Implemented research projects

Head of projects:

Grant TOO A 02618 of the Comitee of Scientific Studies, Bureau for Defence Matters - Ethological analysis of mistakes made by police dogs at identification of persons on the base of individual scent..

Grant   2PO6Z 041 27 of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland -Training of special dogs for detedtion of odour markers of cancer diseases in humans.

Grant ON 311 0543 36 of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland – Improvement of different forms of olfactory detection in police special dogs applying behavioural and molecular methods.
Coordinator of the work package of the EU Leonardo da Vinci pilot project HU-04-B- F-PP-170001. - Promoting quality assurance in animal welfare-environment-food quality interaction studies through upgraded eLearning.

Organizational and educational activity

Chairman of the workimg group for protection of genetic resources in horse breedig at the National Research Institute of Animal Production
Chairman and Vice-chairman of the Studbook Commission of Konik Polski horse breed at the Polish Horse Breeders Association.

Lecturer at postgradual and PhD studies and seminars in Poland and abroad, among others at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences,  SWPS University, Collegium Humanitatis, University of Hohenheim  and  Freie Universität Berlin (Germany) and University of Changsha (China).

Promoter  of  7 PhD dissertations.  Reviewer in a procedure to confer the title of professor of agricultural sciences. Reviewer in  4 procedures to confer the degree of doctor of science, out of which 1 at the  Freie Universität Berlin as well as reviewer of 9 PhD dissertations.

 Selected publications

1. Jezierski T., Jaworski Z., Górecka A., 1999. Effects of handling on behaviour and heart rate in Konik horses. Comparison of stable and forest reared youngstock.  Applied Animal Behaviour Science  62: 1-11.
2. McCulloch M., Jezierski T., Broffman M., Hubbard A., Turner K., Janecki T. 2006.Diagnostic accuracy of canine scent detection in early- and late-stage lung and breast cancers. Integrative Cancer Therapies 5, 1: 1-10.
3. Walczak M., Jezierski T., Górecka-Bruzda A., Sobczyńska M., Ensminger J. 2012.
   Impact of individual training parameters and manner of taking breath odor samples on the reliability of canines as cancer screeners. Journal of Veterinary Behavior – Clinical Applications and Research 7: 283-294.
4. Amann A., Miekisch W., Schubert J., Buszewski B., Ligor T., Jezierski T., Pleil J.,
   Risby T. 2014. Analysis of exhaled breath for disease detection . Annual Review of Analytical Chemistry 7: 455-482.
5. Jezierski T., Adamkiewicz E., Walczak M., Sobczyńska M., Górecka-Bruzda A., Ensminger J., Papet  E.L. 2014. Efficacy of drug detection by fully- trained police dogs varies by breed, training level, type of drug and search environment. Forensic Science International 237, 112-118.
6. Jezierski T, Walczak M., Ligor T., Rudnicka J., Buszewski B., 2015. Study of the art:
   Canine olfaction used for cancer detection on the basis of breath odour. Perspectives and limitations. Journal of Breath Research 9: 027001
7. Jezierski T., Ensminger J. Papet L.E. (Editors) 2016. Canine Olfaction Science and Law: Advances in Forensic Science, Medicine, Conservation, and Environmental Remediation. CRC Press, Taylor & Francis (USA). ISBN 9781482260236 - CAT# K24225
8. Jezierski T., Jaworski Z., Sobczyńska M., Górecka-Bruzda A. 2018. Do olfactory behaviour and marking responses of Konik polski stallions to faeces from conspecifics of either sex differ?  Behavioural Processes 155, 38-42.  
9. Jezierski T., Dzięcioł M., Szumny A., Niżański W., Woszczyło M., Pieczewska B., Godzińska E.  2019. Discrimination of oestrus odour in urine by male dogs in different experimental settings. Journal of Veterinary Behavior – Clinical Applications and Research 29, 25-30. 
10.  Kokocińska-Kusiak A., Matalińska J., Sacharczuk M., Sobczyńska M., Góral-Radziszewska K., Wileńska B., Misicka  A., Jezierski T. * 2020. Can mice be trained to discriminate urine odor of conspecifics with melanoma before clinical  symptoms appear ? Journal of Veterinary Behavior 39, 1-13

Link to the scientific profile and website

https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6602336795