 |
 |
|
|
Contact:
Metapopulation Research Group Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences PO Box 65 (Viikinkaari 1) FI-00014 University of Helsinki FINLAND phone +358 9 1911 (Exchange) firstname.lastname(at)helsinki.fi Comments on the pages to
Watch the video of the brave explorers from MRG on Madagascar! |
 |
Profile I have spent the last three years as a postdoctoral researcher and international traveller, living primarily in Jena, Germany and working at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. Before that I spent close to 6 years working on my PhD at Stanford University , San Francisco, California, USA. I came to the MRG in the spring of 2005 for my second postdoctorate position as part of a NSF Biocomplexity Project. This project is an international collaboration between Pennsylvania State University, University of Helsinki, and University of Miami to develop functional genomics tools for the M. cinxia model system. I currently live in Helsinki, while working some months in Miami during the winter. Research The central theme of my research has been the study of evolution by natural selection. In order to do this I try and bring together many different braches of science for a unified perspective of how genetic variation can result in differential fitness among individuals within a population. For my PhD I focused on how the genetic variation within on gene, phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI), affected the flight of Colias eurytheme butterflies. I determined the genetic basis of this variation and its location within the enzyme structure of PGI. For my postdoc in Germany I focused on nearly 100 genes, assessing their function and patterns of genetic variation, looking for the signature of natural selection. Specific genes that I focused upon were involved with the innate immunity and host plant detoxification. Currently I am trying to develop an EST library for M. cinxia for several purposes. First, this library will be used for making a microarray in order to begin asking which genes among 5-7,000 are involved in differential respiration, ATP/ADP ratios, and dispersal. Second, this database will be used to start looking at the patterns of genetic variation among genes of central metabolism. Misc I spend my time away from work dancing to hot jazz. |
