Common Themes in Reproductive Diversity: Trainees

Our goal is to attract and retain talented and diverse trainees to earn Ph.D.s in their home departments and programs with an emphasis on interdisciplinary training that focuses on sexual development and reproductive behavior. We will also provide advanced training to recent Ph.D.s.

We are pleased to introduce our sixth cohort of predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees, for the 2010-2011 year.

2010-2011 Trainees

	Christine Bergeon Burns: Christy’s predoctoral research examines the evolution of hormone-mediated suites of traits. Hormones are important mediators of life-history trade-offs, and the multiple targets of hormones may facilitate or constrain adaptive divergence. Her research asks whether relationships between the hormone testosterone and phenotypic traits observed in one population of a songbird, the Dark-eyed junco (J. hyemalis), are consistent or different across a divergent subspecies facing different selective pressures. Further, Christy is investigating how variation in neural androgen sensitivity may relate to these hormone-phenotype relationships.
	Amy Dapper: Amy’s predoctoral research focuses on evolution of conditionally expressed traits. Specifically, she is examining how juvenile hormone regulates male and sex-dimorphic horns in the dung beetle genus Onthophagus. By better understanding how developmental mechanisms contributes to variation in the degree and direction of horn polymorphisms, her research will help to elucidate important factors underlying the evolutionary origins of morphological diversity.
	Mollee Ferrell: Mollee’s predoctoral research examines sex differences in behavioral, physiological, and morphological responses to chronic stress. Specifically, she is investigating how gonadal hormones contribute to stress-induced changes in medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala in both males and females. Her research aims to characterize the relationship between sex differences and alterations in structure and function in the corticolimbic circuit due to stress.
	Jennifer Hackney: Jennifer’s postdoctoral research uses the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model to examine endocrine-immune interactions during development. Specifically, her research is focused on understanding the mechanism by which injury to specific tissues leads to a global delay in development (e.g. prolonged larval and pupal stages) characterized by decreased synthesis of the steroid hormone ecdysone. In addition, she is interested in examining how injury to adult females affects ovarian follicle development, an ecdysone dependent process.
	Winnie Ho: Winnie’s predoctoral research focuses on the evolution of the physiological mechanisms that underlie sexually dimorphic behavior. Specifically, she is investigating how the neuroendocrine pathways regulating electrocommunication behavior in black ghost knifefish (Apteronotus albifrons), differ across populations that show variation in the magnitude of sexual dimorphism in those electrocommunication signals.
	Kim Rosvall: Kim is interested in the evolutionary significance of armaments and ornaments in females. In her dissertation work, she quantified the fitness costs and benefits of intrasexual aggression in female tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor). As a postdoctoral researcher, Kim will continue to study aggressive behavior in females, focusing instead on underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms. Using the dark eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), Kim will explore whether behavioral differences among females and between the sexes map onto variation in neural sensitivity to testosterone (e.g. androgen receptor expression).

Past Trainees

	Jennifer Akst: Jef’s predoctoral research investigated mating systems and sexual selection in the lined seahorse, Hippocampus erectus. Through a series of controlled laboratory experiments with captive animals, she examined the courtship behavior of this species and explored the mate choice behavior of both sexes. Jef received her M.A. in 2009 and is a science writer at The Scientist magazine.
	Jonathan Atwell: Jonathan’s predoctoral research focuses on evaluating how associated hormonal, immunological, morphological, and behavioral traits have responded in integrated or independent ways following a unique colonization event, in which a historically montane-breeding songbird (the Dark-eyed junco) established an isolated population in an urban, coastal environment. This system provides an ideal opportunity to study rapid evolution and adaptive plasticity, and Jonathan is investigating these questions with respect to population differences, sex differences, seasonality, and patterns of trait covariation. Jonathan is a continuing Ph.D. student at Indiana University.
	Yaniv Brandvain: Yaniv’s predoctoral research investigated the evolutionary consequences of systems of mating, such as inbreeding/outbreeding and monandry/polyandry. He considered how inbreeding affects the probability of fixation of good gene combinations, and also examined the evolution of genomic imprinting under differing mating systems with both theory and data. Yaniv completed his Ph.D in 2010 and is a post-doctoral researcher at UC Davis.
	Kristal Cain: Kristal’s predoctoral research examines the mechanisms and selection pressures that lead to sex differences in morphology and behavior. She looks at females that are male typical in body size or coloring (or androgynous) to determine is they are also more similar to males in behavior, which would indicate a common mechanism controlling trait expression. She is also working to determine if exposure to androgens during development or in adulthood is driving this covariation, and whether there are consequences for androgynous females’ survival and reproductive success.
	Idelle Cooper: Idelle’s predoctoral research focused on the evolution of sex differences, particularly by natural selection, by examining color patterns and ecological niche type in the Hawaiian Megalagrion damselfly phylogeny. This research was completed using a combination of field surveys of the distribution of color patterns and measuring correlated ecological variables, as well as conducting lab and field experiments to identify the selective pressures on color. Idelle received her Ph.D. in 2008 and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Jenny Boughman at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
	Susannah French: Susannah's postdoctoral research investigated the occurrence and regulation of physiological trade-offs between vital life-history processes; in particular, how energy is allocated between the reproductive and immune systems using the Siberian hamster model (Phodopus sungorus). She was also interested in how organisms regulate and maintain these key life-history processes in the face of a changing environment, especially specific aspects of anthropogenic (e.g., introduction of pathogens; degradation of habitat; altered resource availability) influence using the Galapagos marine iguana model (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). Susannah is now an Assistant Professor at Utah State University.
	Timothy Greives: Tim's predoctoral research examined how environmentally relevant cues are integrated by organisms allowing appropriate alteration of reproductive status. Specifically, he focused on the neuropeptide kisspeptin, investigating its effects in hamsters housed in "summer-like" and "winter-like" photoperiods. Tim received his Ph.D. in 2009 and is pursuing postdoctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Michaela Hau at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell, Germany.
	Britt Heidinger: Britt's predoctoral research was designed to investigate whether modifications of the stress response underlie age-related changes in reproductive effort in a long-lived seabird, the common tern. Britt tested whether older parents have higher reproductive performance than younger parents in part because they respond less strongly to stressors. Britt received her Ph.D. in 2007 and is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Pat Monaghan, Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Glasgow.
	James Klatt: James' predoctoral research examines the evolution of the neural systems associated with social bonding. His research focuses on sex differences in the oxytocin and vasopressin family of neuropeptides and their effects on pair bonding and parental care in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata). James is a continuing Ph.D. student at Indiana University.
	Liz Lehman: Liz’s predoctoral research investigated the role of tetrodotoxin (TTX) in rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa) eggs as an antipredator mechanism, examining the effect of egg toxicity on reproductive success. Liz received her Ph.D. in 2006 and is a project coordinator at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ.
	Kathryn Lenz: Katy's predoctoral research focused on the effects of early maternal care on neural and behavioral development. Specifically, Katy examined whether alterations in maternal licking influence the development of the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB) in rats, a motor nucleus in the lumbar spinal cord involved in the production of male sexual behavior. Katy received her Ph.D. in 2009 and is a post-doctoral researcher at the School of Medicine, University of Maryland-Baltimore.
	Joel McGlothlin: Joel's predoctoral research focused on the evolution of groups of traits used by males to obtain mates. Specifically, he examined the role of sexual selection in shaping patterns of integration among morphological, physiological, and behavioral traits, including plumage, testosterone production and parental behavior. Joel received his Ph.D. in 2007 and is a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Butch Brodie, Department of Biology, University of Virginia.
	Dawn O'Neal: Dawn's predoctoral research took a comparative approach to investigating potential mechanisms (e.g., immune function) mediating the evolution of sex differences in migratory behavior in the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis). Specifically, her research dealt with the effect of environment (i.e. winter climate and recent warming events) on wintering birds and their decisions regarding choice of winter location and the effects of this choice on winter health and survival. Dawn completed her Ph.D in 2010 and is a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Georgia.
	Mayté Ruiz: Mayté’s predoctoral research investigated courtship behavior in sagebrush lizards, Sceloporus graciosus. Her research focused on the interactions between male courtship display and female reproductive state. She is also interested in examining the costs associated with courtship in S. graciosus. Mayté received her Ph.D in 2010 and is conducting research in Puerto Rico.
	Heather Rupp: Heather's postdoctoral resesarch investigated the cognitive processing of sexual stimuli using comparative models across species, while combining behavioral, psychophysiological, and functional neuroimaging techniques to help uncover the role of the brain in sexual arousal. Heather has completed her postdoctoral studies and is an Assistant Research Scientist with the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction. She recently received a $423,500 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to study the mechanisms behind postpartum depression (IU press release). Heather is a research fellow at the Kinsey Institute and a senior research scientist at EmSense Corporation, San Francisco, CA.
	Sarah Schaack: Sarah’s predoctoral research focused on the influence of recombination (or sex) on the gain and loss of transposable elements in Daphnia pulex, a freshwater microcrustacean. Sarah’s work has bearing on the origin and evolution of sex, the repeated evolution of asexuality, the costs and benefits of recombination for hosts and parasites, and the impact of mutation load as a selective pressure influencing reproductive mode. Sarah received her Ph.D. in 2008 completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the laboratories of Ellen Pritham and Cedric Feschotte at University of Texas, Arlington, and is currently an HHMI postdoctoral fellow at Lewis and Clark University.
	Lynn Siefferman: Lynn's postdoctoral research investigated the proximate determinants and evolutionary significance of blue coloration in the feathers (microstructure) and eggs (biliverdin pigments) of eastern bluebirds. Lynn has completed her postdoctoral studies and is an Assistant Professor at Appalachian State University.
	Tom Verhovshek: The goal of Tom’s predoctoral research was to further characterize the role of androgens in the maintenance of the neuromuscular system underlying male sexual behavior. Specifically, he was interested in how androgens interact with brain-derived neurotrophic factor both centrally and peripherally to influence motoneuron morphology in the spinal nucleus of the bulbocavernosus (SNB). Tom received his Ph.D in 2010 and is a postdoctoral researcher at the IU School of Medicine.
	Devin Zysling: Devin's predoctoral research focused on the physiological mechanisms underlying seasonal variation in immune response. She characterized energetic trade-offs between reproduction and immune function, using the Siberian hamster (Phodopus sungorus), a small, seasonally breeding mammal that requires long days (LD) for reproductive activity. Devin received her Ph.D. in 2008 and is a post-doctoral researcher at Cornell University.