Research
Evolutionary Genetics of Sexual Conflict
I am en evolutionary biologist with a particular interest in sexual conflict - it's causes and consequences. My research group has been trying to get a more detailed understanding of sexual conflict at the level of individual genetic loci. Some of the question we are looking at currently are: Which genes are affected by sexually antagonistic selection? What biological processes are those genes involved in? Do sexually antagonistic genes cause disease in humans?
With collaborators, we are currently using two systems to try to answer these questions. In the lab we work with the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, for which there is such a wealth of genetic tools and knowledge. We are also using data from humans.
Funding for this research has come in the past from The Royal Society (UK), The European Research Council, and most recently the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsådet).
Teaching
I am course leader for:
BIGC14 - Livets utveckling och mångfald (Evolution and biodiversity of life)
Collaboration
Some past and present collaborations:
Jon Harper (University of Sussex, UK)
Tim Janicke (CNRS Montpellier, France)
Filip Ruzicka (Institute of Science and Technology, Austria)
Klaus Reinhardt (Technical University Dresden, Germany)
Damian Dowling (Monash University, Australia)
PhD supervisor:
Matthew Gage (University of East Anglia, UK)
Postdoctoral advisers:
Bio
I graduated from Sheffield University (UK) with a BSc (hons) in Zoology in 1993, then began a PhD with Matt Gage at Liverpool University (UK) on the evolution of sperm length. I obtained my PhD in 2001 and began my first postdoc with Göran Arnqvist, initially at Umeå University and later moving to Uppsala University (Sweden). In 2003 I moved to the US for a 2 year postdoc with Bill Rice at University California Santa Barbara. I returned to Uppsala University with a Swedish Research Council fellowship in 2005. In 2012 I then moved to the University of Sussex with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. I then moved to Karlstad University in 2020 and was made a Senior Lecturer in 2021.