Dr. Cindy Baker
Dr. Cindy Baker is a Principal Scientist in Freshwater Fish at NIWA, based in Hamilton. She is an expert in lamprey ecology, and a key researcher in the lamprey population genetics as well as lamprey reddening syndrome. Cindy is a collaborator with the Population Genetics of New Zealand Lamprey research project in the Gemmell lab.
Dr. Shannon Clarke
Shannon is a senior scientist based with the Animal Sciences group at AgResearch Invermay. She is a molecular biologist, joining AgResearch in 2006 as part of the Animal Genomics team. Currently Shannon is involved in the develpment and implementation of genomic technologies, such as genome sequencing and SNPs chips, to drive genetic gain in the NZ livestock and aquaculture industry. She is an affiliate of the Gemmell lab, involved in the development of genetic tools in New Zealand aquaculture project.
Dr. Rob Day
Dr. Damian Dowling
Dr. Damian Dowling is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. His research focuses on the evolution of the mitochondrial genome, the biology of ageing, and the evolution of sex differences.
Dr. Kevin Esvelt
Kevin is the leader of the Sculpting Evolution Group, and also Assistant Professor at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology).
His work on gene drives lead to a collaboration with the Gemmell lab to look at how this technology can be used for pest control (Gene Drives and Pest Control research project)
Prof. John Godwin
John is based in the Department of Biological Sciences of the University of North Carolina, and his research focuses on the study of animal behavior and sex determination, with the goal of linking genes to behavioral and sexual phenotypes important for various adaptive challenges, including mating successfully and coping with stressors.
A productive collaboration between the Gemmell and Godwin labs has developed based on John’s research in the bluehead wrasse sex change project.
Dr. Russel Gray
Prof. Russell Gray is based at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Auckland, and he pioneered the application of computational evolutionary methods to questions about linguistic prehistory. His research interests scope the fields of linguistics, animal cognition, philosophy of biology and behavioural phylogenetics.
Dr. Marta Guerra
Dr Marta Guerra is a marine ecologist based at the Department of Marine Science, University of Otago. Her research focuses on the habitat use and behavioural ecology of marine megafauna, particularly cetaceans, with an emphasis on science that is informative for management and communities. She is a collaborator with the Gemmell lab, working with Dr Alana Alexander on parāoa/sperm whale genomics and population connectivity.
Associate Prof. Tim Hore
Prof. Tim Hore is an Associate Professor based at the Anatomy Department of the University of Otago, with a research focus on Epigenetics and Development.
Dr. Sheri Johnson
Dr. Sheri Johnson is a Gemmell Lab associate, and a Lecturer based in the Zoology Department of the University of Otago. Her research interests include mating system evolution, sperm biology, male aging and epigenetics.
Dr. Michael Knapp
Dr. Michael Knapp is an Associate Professor in Biological Anthropology at the Department of Anatomy of the University of Otago.
Prof. Miles Lamare
Professor Miles Lamare is based in the Department of Marine Science of the University of Otago, and currently Head of this Department. His research interests are in marine ecology, population biology, marine invertebrate biology, and the ecology and physiology of marine invertebrate larval stages.
Prof. Phil Lester
Prof. Phil Lester is based in the School of Biological Sciences of Victoria University of Wellington. His research focus in on the population dynamics and ecology of social insects.
Associate Prof. Mark Lockman
Associate Professor Dr. Mark Lokman is based in the Department of Zoology of the University of Otago, and his main research interests are control mechanisms of fecundity in fish, evolution of vertebrate endocrine systems, developmental genetics, and growth and reproduction of aquaculture species in New Zealand.
Prof. Lisa Matisso-Smith
Professor Lisa Matisso-Smith is a Professor of Biological Anthropology based in the Anatomy Department of the University of Otago.
Dr. Kathryn McRae
Kathryn is based at Invermay in AgResearch’s Animal Genomics group, and working on securing threatened species and resilient ecosystems to help to safekeep New Zealand’s natural environment. Kathryn has a background in genetics and zoology, and her current research interests are focused around the genetic basis of animal health.
Dr. Simon Muncaster
Dr. Simon Muncaster is a researcher and academic staff member in the Marine Studies and Environmental Management programme of the Toi-Ohomai Institute of Technology in Tauranga. Simon is a collaborator in the “Investigating the molecular basis of sex reversal in sequential hermaphroditic fishes” research project, focusing on this phenomena in NZ Spotty wrasse.
Prof. Shinishi Nakagawa
Prof. Shinichi Nakagawa is based in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences of the University of New South Wales (Australia), and has a research focus in evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology, genetics and meta-analysis.
Dr. Craig Philips
Dr. Craig Philips is a Senior Scientist based in the Biocontrol & Biosecurity Research Team at AgResearch.
Prof. Robert Poulin
Prof. Robert Poulin is based in the Zoology Department of the University of Otago, and his research focuses on the evolutionary ecology of parasites, effects of parasites on communities and ecosystems, and manipulation of host phenotype by parasites. He leads the the Evolutionary and Ecological Parasitology Research Group.
Robert is involved with the Gemmell lab as he is an Associate Investigator in Neil’s Marsden project “Parasitic Puppeteers – How do They Pull the Strings?”, together with Dr. Fanny Maure (Zoology Department) and Dr. Rob Day (Biochemistry Department).
Associate Prof. Will Rayment
Will is an Associate Professor in the Department of Marine Science at Otago University and leader of the Marine Megafauna Research Group. He is a co-leader of the Connecting Theme in the Coastal People: Southern Skies Centre of Research Excellence. He is collaborating with Dr Alana Alexander on Parāoa of the South Pacific, a project aimed at understanding the connections among sperm whale populations and their importance to coastal communities.
Dr. Patrice Rosengrave
Patrice is a Research Fellow in the Pathology and Biomedical Science Department at the Christchurch campus of the University of Otago.
But previously, Patrice did her PhD degree under Neil Gemmell’s supervision, focusing on cryptic female choice – a form of post copulation sexual selection – in New Zealand chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha). Through her PhD thesis and post-doctoral research on this area, Patrice has been able to show that ovarian fluid (a viscous fluid that surrounds the egg batch) influences sperm behaviour and hence could be a mechanism of cryptic female choice. These results led the way for further investigation to uncover the genetic bases for cryptic female choice in an externally fertilising species.
Prof. Hamish Spencer
Prof. Hamish Spencer is based in the Zoology Department of the University of Otago, and has research interests in maintenance of genetic and epigenetic variation in populations, population genetics of genomic imprinting, population-genetic models of maternal selection and New Zealand molluscs, among many others!
Dr. Helen Taylor
Helen Taylor received her PhD from Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), and has research interests that span conservation genetics, ecology, behaviour and reproductive biology. She started working as a PostDoctoral Fellow in the Gemmell Lab on the impact of low genetic diversity and inbreeding on sperm health in native and introduced birds in New Zealand, progressing into a Research Fellow position soon after. Helen is now working as Conservation Programme Manager at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland at the Edinburgh Zoo, and is a collaborator of the Gemmell lab, as several of her projects are still ongoing.
Dr. Erica Todd
After almost six years as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Gemmell group, Erica left us to take up a new position as Lecturer in Marine Genomics at Deakin University in Geelong, Australia.
She remains a collaborator of the Gemmell Lab with her expertise in appliying transcriptome sequencing and comparative genomic approaches to explore female to male sex reversal in fish, as her skills are unvaluable to the molecular basis of sex reversal project in our group.
Dr. Dan Tompkins
Prof. Dan Tompkins leads Predator Free 2050’s science strategy. His research interests include emerging infectious diseases, wildlife vaccination and biocontrol, and population bottlenecks and inbreeding.
Associate Prof. Maren Wellenreuther
Maren is a Science Group Leader at Plant and Food Research and an Associate Professor at Auckland University. She is based in Nelson, and her research focuses on developing new fish species for aquaculture.
Associate Prof. Megan Wilson
Dr. Megan Wilson is an Associate Professor at the Department of Anatomy of the University of Otago, with a research focus in Developmental biology and Genetics.