About me
Currently a research assistant in Dr. Dan Bolnick’s Lab at the University of Connecticut, part of a research team studying the evolutionary immunology of the threespine stickleback.
The primary focus of the research is to understand the genetic basis of host adaptation to spatially varying parasites, and the corresponding immunological traits. This work includes field surveys of parasite communities, field experiments testing for local adaptation and immunological plasticity, and experimental infection assays in the lab coupled with immunological study (multiple ongoing studies).
My role in the Bolnick Lab is to manage the field and lab research in west coast lakes near Bamfield, on Vancouver Island, to determine threespine stickleback and Schistocephalus solidus abundance in nature throughout the year, and oversee crosses and experimental infection assays in the lab.
I hold a PhD from Simon Fraser University in evolutionary ecology focusing on sexual selection and phylogeography in Poecilia reticulata, an MSc from the University of Calgary studying sex change in intertidal copepods, and a BSc from the University of Victoria. After completing my PhD, I served as a Research Associate with Dr. Brad Ahnolt (University of Victoria), working on sex determining mechanisms in Tigriopus californicus. Research details here.
Dr. Heather J Alexander 