RESEARCH INTERESTS:

My primary research interests lie in genetics and aquaculture, but more specifically, in improving selective breeding techniques for shellfish utilizing molecular methods. I am also very interested in interdisciplinary research, especially the intersection of evolution, genetics, and quantitative ecology.

RESEARCH LAB:

I conduct my research in Mark Camara’s USDA shellfish genetics lab at Oregon state University's  Hatfield Marine Science Center. Our lab focuses on molecular, population, and quantitative genetics research of aquacultured oyster species on the West coast of the United States.

CURRENT PROJECTS:

My PhD research includes two projects. Both of them are aimed at improving oyster breeding using molecular methods.

The goal of my first project is to optimize a new oyster breeding method by growing selectively bred oyster families in mixed populations, instead of the usual way of growing families separately. This method will make breeding more accessible to oyster farmers by drastically reducing the growing space, equipment, and labor needed to do it. It also makes the analysis much more elegant, eliminating the need for extensive replication by homogenizing environmental variation. At harvest, the families reared in mixed populations will be separated according to their genotype using microsatellite molecular markers and evaluated at multiple characters. In this project I also track the temporal changes in family frequency distribution according to the time of family mixing in order to determine the optimum point of mixing. In addition, I collaborate to develop software that determines the optimum set of microsatelite markers to use for family identification at harvest. My second research project focuses on mapping pieces of the oyster genome that control the expression of genes for oyster survival, with the ultimate goal of increasing the effectiveness of marker assisted selection.

GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS:

Over the years my research has been supported by several grants and fellowships, including:

• Scholarship for Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics , University of Washington (2006);

• Markham Research Award (2006, 2005);

• Anja Robinson Shellfish Fellowship (2006, 2005);

• Victor and Tamara Loosanoff Fellowship (1996 – 2000);

• Graduate Research Award, University of Washington (1998);

• Reed Scholarship  (1997);

• Robert Resoff Scholarship (1995 – 1996).

In 2004 I was awarded an Outstanding Research Award by the Hatfield Marine Science Center.

CLICK HERE to view the list of my publications.