Academic interests
I am currently a postodoctoral research fellow for the 4-Oceans H2020 project. Within this large, multinational collaboration, I am investigating the effects of marine exploitation on key taxonomic groups, such as marine mammals and fish, by utilizing ancient DNA obtained from archaeological specimens and museum collections. As such, I combine marine palaeogenomics, ecology, and biology. Specifically, the research entails the laboratory work and bioinformatics analyses involved in studying whole genome, large-scale population genomics data, and applies a cross-disciplinary approach by combining genomic, ecological, and environmental data using ancient, historical, and modern DNA data, as well as isotope data and zooarchaeological evidence.
I "did" my Ph.D. at CEES between 2018-2023 focusing on conservation genomics of the Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica). In particular, I resolved an extensive gap in the spatio-temporal resolution of the genomic structure of puffin populations by providing entirely novel genomic insights into the population structure, hybridization, demographic history, and phenotypic differences of Atlantic puffins analyzing whole genomes from multiple colonies across the species' range spanning the last 150 years.
Prior to this Ph.D. fellowship, I was a research assistant in the MedPlag group at CEES starting in 2016, and primarily acted as a laboratory technician in the ancient DNA (aDNA) laboratory, which also led to me becoming the current on-site aDNA lab-manager.
Before my time in Norway, I obtained a M.Sc. in Marine Sciences and a B.S. in Marine Biology at Hawaii Pacific University, Hawaii, USA. During my Master’s studies I gained research experience in Marine Ecology and with a focus on the community analysis of abyssal zooplankton combining traditional taxonomic identification via microscopy with a novel metabarcoding approach.