As an evolutionary biologist and zoologist, I have always been captivated by how animals adapt to extreme environments, such as the perpetual darkness of caves or the deep sea, where convergent evolutionary innovations often shape sensory systems.
In my previous research I focused on subterranean biology, investigating the molecular mechanisms driving cave beetle adaptations from a macroevolutionary perspective. Using phylogenomic methods, I analyzed genomic data from species with varying ecological preferences to explore the evolutionary dynamics of gene repertoires, with a particular emphasis on the chemosensory system.
Currently, in the Fish Evolution Research Group, I am investigating the evolution of deep-sea fish eyes. For many animal species, adjusting the visual sensory system to the surrounding light is crucial to survival. At the molecular level, changes in the gene repertoire, functional diversity, and/or differential expression of visual opsin and rhodopsin genes are common evolutionary mechanisms for species inhabiting environments with particular light conditions. Studies of fish retinal photoreceptors have revealed some of the most extraordinary changes in gene repertoires among vertebrates; nevertheless, cellular-level functioning remains largely unexplored. To address this, our multi-omics approach integrates long-read genome sequencing, single-cell RNA-seq, and ATAC-seq to provide a detailed characterization of retinal photoreceptors in non-model fish species. This research offers a comprehensive macroevolutionary perspective on vertebrate eye adaptations to extremely dim-light environments.