2022
New position: EYESPOT_EVOLGEN @ CIBIO-InBIO
Great news! I am continuing my collaboration in the EVOLGEN group at CIBIO, now starting a new position on The Genetic, Cellular, and Photonic Mechanisms of Avian Structural Colouration ERC project. This project focuses on understanding the genomic and cellular basis of structural coloration in the extraordinary diversity of peacock colour mutants, as well as in wild bird species from across the avian phylogeny.
This is a great opportunity to learn new molecular methods and develop bioinformatic skills, and I'm supper exited to dive in the world of color! |
2021
New position: HYBRABID_EVOLGEN @ CIBIO-InBIO
I'm excited to start a new position in the EVOLGEN group at CIBIO-InBIO, with Miguel Carneiro et al.
In this 6 months project, I will be mapping genetic incompatibilities implicated in the early stages of species formation using the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus spp.) hybrid zone. It's a really awesome system, with great genomic resources already available, so it will def be a great opportunity to gain more experience with bigger data! |
Outreach: Portuguese Biodiversity Almanac - predators edition
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September: And we are now starting another edition of the Portuguese biodiversity almanac, with all of your favorite predators! @fapaspt
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Outreach: Short film contest
In yet another co-led project, Susana Freitas and I were granted funding from the Portuguese Environmental Fund to organize a short film contest for elementary, middle and high school students, with the theme "A look at people in the environment: the legacy of Luís Filipe Costa in the hands of the adults of tomorrow".
Luís Filipe Costa was a Portuguese journalist, broadcaster and TV director, and a pioneer in the production of environmental documentaries. He produced a TV series from 1972 to 1976 entitled "Há só uma Terra" (There is only one Earth), which introduced for the first time the theme of ecology in the Portuguese TV programming, addressing topics that 50 years later are still pertinent and in need of addressing. We are really thankful for the opportunity and for the support of all people involved! To know more, check out our website www.curtasfapas.com You can see more of the work of Luís Filipe Costa here. |
Outreach: ConGen webinar series with SCB Cono Sur
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The Education and Events Committee of the CGWG has partnered with the SCB Regional group of the Southern Cone chapter to create a series of three webinars, where we discuss topics linking genetics to conservation with a focus on the Southern Cone of South America.
These webinars are in Spanish and intended to be an informal conversation between people doing genetic work at various topics, from environmental change to wildlife traffic, and also addressing important issues like the interface between genetics, politics and management. All webinars are recorded and you can find them on the Southern Cone YouTube channel. Is has been super enriching to get to know all of these people and I'm really happy to have met such a great group of young researchers, which are not only super motivated, but also organized, driven and above all, amazing people! |
2020
Outreach: Portuguese Biodiversity Almanac - confinement edition
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Together with my dear friend Susana Freitas, we launched a weekly series of the Portuguese Biodiversity Almanac on FAPAS social media, where we aim at showing the general public the diversity of species that they can find (more or less) frequently around them, in short walks from their house.
Definitively a few of these species are not easy to find, but it is also important to let people know what critters are actually out there, even if they can't see them! This project lasted from October 2020 to June 2021, and we're now preparing a second edition to start in late September 2021. It has been a great way of practicing our drawing and painting skills and turning one of our favorite hobbies into something meaningful for biodiversity conservation! To know more about our work, visit the Almanac page here. |
2019
Project: Genome sequencing and population genomics
Diversity and demography of the Hawaiian goose (Nēnē)
At the Hohenlohe lab, I have had the pleasure of being involved in a conservation project with my dear friend Anne Veillet, building on her Masters' thesis work with microsatellites on the Hawaiian endemic and state bird, the Nēnē.
The Nēnēs originate from Canada geese that migrated to Hawaii and established a breeding and non-migratory colony. They have undergone a strong population bottleneck during both the colonization and also more recently after European settlement, due to over hunting and the introduction of predators to Hawaii. I have been providing support for genomic data analyses and interpretation in a project involving building genomes for two Nēnēs as well as one Canada goose from a population with a similar demographic history as the Nēnē, as well as for RADseq analyses of genetic diversity and divergence across populations, while incorporating fitness data from breeding pairs. |
2018
Project: Non-invasive population genetics
Effective population size estimation of GCNP bison herds
At the Waits' lab, I had the pleasure of working with Dorah Mtui in a project aiming at estimating effective population size in bison herds of the Grand Canyon National Park, using fecal sampling.
Is has been a great experience, getting back in the wet lab and starting a microsatellite project from scratch... It made me remember how binning feels more like a form of art than actual science, but the important thing is to be consistent lol |
Field Trip: The Wildlife Society Conclave
Northwestern Ecosystems
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Starting my Postdoc at the University of Idaho with Lisette Waits and Paul Hohenlohe!!!
Seven UIdaho undergraduates and I joined Merav Ben-David and the University of Wyoming crew, in a field trip organized and coordinated by Kristina Harkins through the Northestern ecosystems. We visited incredible places of extraordinary natural beauty, including the Multnomah Falls, the Ape Cave lava tube at the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Mt. St. Helens, Rialto Beach, Mt. Reinier, Hoh rain forest at the Olympic National Park, we went to the San Juan Islands and did a bit of whale watching (orcas, yay!), visited Moran State Park and hiked at Steve's Pass. Is was fantastic getting to know all of these students. They presented on topics related to the places we were visiting and we were fortunate to meet a bunch of conservation professionals that taught us a lot about conservation issues at each of those places. It was a great way to start a postdoc! |
2017
Teaching: ConGen workshop & Congreso SMBC
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Together with Joana Paupério, Paulo Célio Alves, and Fred Allendorf, I was invited to teach the practical section of the Conservation Genetics workshop for undergraduate students at the University of Heredia, San José, Costa Rica, and also to be a plenary speaker at the XXI Congreso de la Sociedad Mesoamericana para la Biología y la Conservación.
This trip was organized by Alexander Gomez Lepis, a PhD student from CIBIO-InBIO, supervised by Paulo Célio Alves and Joana Paupério, and I was really fortunate to have the opportunity to visit multiple incredible National Parks, and also help Alex in his field work in Tortuguero. It was a great adventure, and I got to see amazing mammals, from sloths and silky anteaters, to howler and capuchin monkeys and opossums... we even saw some jaguar fresh footprints following our tracks on the way home (yikes!! :D). We met amazing undergraduates, which were not only highly motivated, but also a lot of fun! Pura vida! |