SWBio PhD student from the University of Exeter

Science and Engineering Research Support Facility
University of Exeter, Penryn Campus
Penryn
Cornwall
TR10 9FE
United Kingdom

E-mail: hw399@exeter.ac.uk

Primary Supervisor: Dr Ben Raymond
+44 (0)1326 259085
B.Raymond@exeter.ac.uk

Curriculum
2018-present: PhD student, Science and Engineering Research Support Facility (University of Exeter)
2017-2018: MSc Evolutionary and Behavioural Ecology (University of Exeter)
2014-2017: BSc (Hons) Zoology (University of Exeter)

Research interests
My research interests focus around the ecology and evolution of bacterial species. Bacteria don’t conform to the traditional concept of a species; their ability to reproduce clonally and/or share genetic material horizontally means that work is needed to understand the process of speciation in bacteria. Focussing on the effect of selection on ecologically relevant traits in Bacillus cereus, I have been conducting experiments to test niche differentiation between strains based on temperature tolerance with my primary supervisor, Dr Ben Raymond, and am currently trying to determine the extent of horizontal gene transfer in Bacillus cereus speciation by comparing phylogenetic trees constructed with core and accessory genomes respectively.