Hester Weaving

Honorary Postdoctoral Research Associate (previously SWBio PhD candidate)

My interest lies with Applied Entomology and Ecology. I have an entomology background, having completed a Masters on the effect of pesticides on dung beetles (2018, Bristol) and an undergraduate dissertation project investigating the quantity of lipid maintained in blow flies. My research interests led me to begin a PhD on maternal investment in tsetse fly, vector of African trypanosome parasites. I am investigating the allocation of nutrients from mother to offspring under different environmental scenarios. I recently moved to UC Davis to take on a postdoc position in mosquito control in the Vector Genetics Laboratory.

Mathilda Whittle

Bristol (EPSRC) and Macquarie (Cotutelle) PhD Student

My current research focuses on modelling the interactions between disease vectors and their microbiota. I have a multi-disciplinary background, having completed a Chemistry BSc (University of Bristol, 2018) before undertaking an MRes in Entomology (University of Reading, 2020), which has lead me to my current research. For my Master's I investigated the winter swarming behaviours of chironomid midges, as well as the changes in environmental associations of a habitat specialist bombylid, Villa cingulata.

Sofia Samoylova

University of Bristol Climate and Health Scholarship PhD Student

My research interest lies with the effect of maternal environment on progeny health and survival. I graduated from the University of Bath having completed my Molecular Biosciences MSc (2021-2022) and my Biochemistry BSc(2018-2021). During my MSc I undertook projects studying the effects of maternal famine on progeny metabolism and analysing wound healing within the context of diabetes using zebrafish as a model. For my Bachelors final year project, I analysed the incorporation of endogenous traits such as axolotl limb regeneration into the human genome. My current PhD project focuses on the impact of heat on pregnancy outcomes through an interdisciplinary and cross-species approach.

Andy Saxon

Research Technician

My research background has primarily focused on how environmental and genetic variation interact to affect key fitness traits. Currently, I am investigating molecular responses to heat stress in pregnancy in Diploptera punctata. My PhD (2018, Bristol) utilised tropical Drosophila to measure such fitness variation across elevational gradients. Previously, my Master's research (2011, Bath) involved generating species distribution models for birds, to aid conservation efforts in the Cape Verde islands, and my Bachelor's project (2007, UWE) explored how woodland management strategies impact fungal diversity. Prior to my work in the EVE lab, I have been a research technician on varied projects, such as investigating the underlying molecular mechanisms of incipient speciation in African cichlids, developing environmental DNA assays to improve aquaculture production in Tanzania and using eDNA metabarcoding to characterise fish biodiversity in Tanzanian river systems.

Harry Layfield

Honorary Research Associate

My research interests are primarily based on utilising genomic tools to answer key ecological and evolutionary questions about invertebrates. My work in the EVE lab investigates how heat stress can influence pregnancy in the cockroach Diploptera punctata. Specifically, by investigating the impacts of heat stress in gene expression and regulation across the different life stages. My PhD focussed on the diversity and speciation of invertebrates in freshwater ecosystems using environmental DNA metabarcoding and whole genome sequencing.

Ying Wang

China Scholarship Council visiting scholar (with Martin Genner)

My interest lies with elucidating the genetic basis of adaptive evolution and phylogeny in fishes using comparative genomic analyses. I have a phylogeny and evolutionary analysis of fishes background. I am an associated professor in Jianghan University, and well-equipped with skills in fish mitochondrial genomes and handling large-scale sequence data such as genomic, transcriptomic, epigenomic and population genomic data. I believe my research will shed new light on the relationships for fish between environment, phenotype, and genotype. In January, 2024, I started a project to investigate the adaptive evolution of Cichild fishes via DNA methylation in university of Bristol.

Liandong Yang

China Scholarship Council visiting scholar (with Martin Genner)

My current research focuses on genome evolution and speciation in fishes using comparative and evolutionary genomics. I completed my PhD from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (2010-2015) and BSc from Anhui Normal University (2006-2010). During my PhD I undertook projects studying genome evolution in teleosts and adaptation to the Tibetan Plateau in fishes. Now, I'm investigating the genomic and epigenomic evolution in cichlid fishes.

Callum McLellan

Postdoctoral Research Associate

During my undergraduate course at the University of Bristol I became fascinated with the evolution of warning colouration and anti-predator behaviour. After graduating, I stayed at Bristol to pursue my interest in behavioural ecology with a Masters by Research investigating how avian predators learn to avoid distasteful, warningly coloured prey. I then went on to follow my interests in evolutionary ecology with a PhD project in the EBaB lab, studying the evolution of grouping behaviour using larval Lepidoptera as a model system. I am now excited to undertake a Postdoc with the EVE lab, investigating the effects of environmental factors on physiological and behavioural changes during insect development, including thermal fertility limits in tsetse.