Dr. Gianola has influenced the global development of animal breeding programs over the past 30 years, primarily through his methodological contributions from a statistical-genetic perspective. He carried on the legacy of Sewall Wright, one of the founders of quantitative genetics. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he developed the theory and analysis of threshold traits—biological traits with discontinuous expression but whose underlying variation can be interpreted in terms of classical quantitative genetics.
His scientific contributions have enabled him to publish more than 200 articles in leading academic journals, as well as to receive various awards, including the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany (2007) and the Chaire D’excellence Pierre de Fermat award in France (2008).
In 2009, the Faculty of Agronomy at the University of the Republic awarded him an honorary doctorate.