Prof. Chris Battershill
Chris is a Professor at the University of Waikato, heads the Coastal Marine Group in the School of Science (UoW) and is the inaugural Director of the Coastal Marine Field Station in Tauranga. Formerly Principal Scientist and Research Team Leader (Supporting Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity) at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and a Programme Leader at NIWA, his research spans the tropics to the Antarctic and focuses on marine ecology, and environmental science, and biodiscovery for medicinal and agricultural sectors.. His research combines a life-long love of the sea with a passion for medicine and science.
His collaboration with the Gemmell group is maintained through MBIE’s Coastal People: Southern Skies research framework, to which PhD student Nicolàs Restrepo Garzon‘s research thesis aligns with.
Prof. Peter Dearden
Peter is based right here at Otago at the Biochemistry Department, and his research focuses on the evolution, development, and genome evolution of animals.
Dr. Eddy Dowle
Eddy Dowle received her PhD at Massey University (New Zealand) and has research interests in evolution, genomics and development.Her work in the Gemmell lab focused on 1) understanding how parasites manipulate their hosts, and 2) developing genomic tools for freshwater biomonitoring. Previously, Eddy had focused on using genomic techniques to explore genetic diversity and environmental adaptation in several invertebrate species. In late 2023, Eddy accepted a position as Senior Scientist at Plant and Food Research, where she has been able to continue to do research in these areas.
Dr. Kristen Fernandes
Kristen did her PhD in the Trace and Environmental DNA (TrEnD) Lab at Curtin University (Australia), focusing on using metabarcoding and insects to document how environments respond to change. She joined the Gemmell Lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow in 2022, working on how to implement novel eDNA pest monitoring methods to accurately measure the distributions and densities of introduced mammals (rats, possums, and stoats) at local and landscape scales. In March 2024 Kristen accepted a new exciting position as a Research Scientist at the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA). Kristen is still involved in the Gemmell lab due to not only her expertise but also as co-supervisor of PhD student Gracie Kroos.
Prof. Ceridwen (Crid) Fraser
Crid’s research combines molecular ecology with aspects of earth sciences to understand the processes that shape global patterns of biodiversity. She is based in the Marine Sciences Department of the University of Otago.
Prof. Jemma Geoghahan
Jemma is based in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Otago, and her research involves the use of metagenomics to reveal the diversity, structure and evolution of the virosphere; examining the evolution of major viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2; and developing new analytical and computational approaches to analyse aspects of virus evolution.
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. Russell 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.
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.
Prof. Christine Jasoni
Christine is the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences of Lincoln University Before that, she had been a Professor here at Anatomy (UoO), and our collaboration with Christine dates back from then. Her research focuses in foetal neural 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. Gert-Jan Jeunen
Gert-Jan did his PhD at the Gemmell lab, finishing in September 2018, and carried on his research work as a PostDoc and Research Fellow. In 2021 he got a Marsden Fast-Start grant to use filter feeders – namely sponges – as a way of accessing biodiversity in aquatic environments. Gert-Jan recently (mid-2024) moved to the Marine Sciences Department, where he is also a PostDoc. We are sad to see him leave, but he is still very much involved with the Gemmell Lab as a collaborator. His research continues to focus in ways of harvesting and detecting environmental DNA (eDNA) in aquatic systems and its use to monitor biodiversity, and he supervises a number of Gemmell lab students, among them Joe Muldoon, Michelle Liddy, Benjamin Duran-Vinet, Jonika Edgecombe and Ryan Easton.
Dr. Nathan Kenny
Nathan is based in the Biochemistry Department of the University of Otago, and his research is centred on a Rutherford Discovery Fellowship looking at the molecular mechanisms underlying resilience to climate change in the kuku (the green-lipped mussel, Perna canaliculus, also known as the kūtai). He has worked on a number of questions at the intersection of comparative genomics, phylogenetics and evolutionary developmental biology in a range of invertebrate species. He uses genomic sequencing, single cell approaches (scRNA and scATACseq), and both bioinformatic and embryological assays to understand how species diversify, develop and adapt to extreme environmental conditions.
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.
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.
Dr. Craig Philips
Dr. Craig Philips is a Senior Scientist based in the Biocontrol & Biosecurity Research Team at AgResearch.
Prof. Xavier Pochon
Xavier is a team lider of the Molecular Surveillance and Biomonitoring group at the Cawthron Institute, and is an expert in applying molecular techniques for environmental monitoring.
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).
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. David Schiel
David Schiel is a Distinguished Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, in the Faculty of Science of the University of Canterbury. He became familiar to many in the Kaikōura area through his work on how marine systems respond and recover from cataclysmic upheaval and other impacts. His collaboration with the Gemmell group is maintained through MBIE’s Coastal People: Southern Skies research framework, to which PhD student Nicolàs Restrepo Garzon‘s research thesis aligns with.
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. Anastasija Zaiko
Anastasija has broad expertise in aquatic ecology, and the development and assessment of molecular tools for monitoring and surveillance. She has recently left the Cawthron Institute and opened her own sequencing facility “Sequench“.
Dr. Jo-Ann Stanton
Jo is an expert in High Throughput Sequencing technologies and molecular diagnostics. She is part of the Marine Biosecurity Toolbox team and is developing molecular tools for point-of-need applications (in situ detection of marine pests by non-expert users).