About

Welcome! I’m a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, working at the intersection of population genomics and microbial ecology. See my CV for the full record, or my Research page for publications and citation metrics.

Background

I did my PhD at the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand, focused on seaweed population genomics and microbiome structure. Before that, I completed a Master of Natural Science (Distinction) and Bachelor of Natural Science at Massey University, both specialising in molecular ecology. I now work as a Research Fellow at the University of Auckland, having previously been an Assistant Research Fellow and Lab Manager at the University of Otago.

Research

I am a broadly trained molecular and microbial ecologist with principal expertise in population genomics and microbial ecology. I specialise in developing eco-evolutionary simulations of microbial communities to develop hypotheses which I then test using observational data and experiments.

My research background is a combination of population genomics and microbial ecology, with my current research interests working to align these two fields to understand the evolution of host-microbe relationships. My current work combines eco-evolutionary modelling of holobiont evolution, and experimental work with Daphnia to determine microbial contributions to host fitness and to understand host-microbial responses to environmental perturbations. In addition to these areas, I am also actively involved in the application and optimisation of new molecular biology protocols for non-model organisms.

More than anything, I like solving problems. Most of my work to date has been focussed on interesting questions, or tricky problems - like why some species don’t sequence so well with nanopore sequencing.

Get in Touch

Feel free to get in touch if you want a copy of any of my publications, or if you’re interested in collaborating.