Organisation
University of Auckland

Research

I am interested in the biology and evolution of the ribosomal DNA repeats (rDNA). I primarily use Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system to study the rDNA. My work involves both computational approaches and molecular approaches. Computationally, I am interested in the patterns of evolution exhibited by the rDNA, as well as in using comparative genomics to find functional elements within the rDNA. For the molecular work, I am interested in characterising the regulation of recombination in the rDNA, and in the biological consequences of this recombination. I also use experimental evolution approaches to look at the dynamics of rDNA recombination in order to help understand its evolution.