Hilary A. Smith

Postdoctoral Researcher

Email: Hilary.A.Smith.964 (at) nd (dot) edu

Office: 321 Galvin Life Sciences

Phone: 574-631-4155

 

I apply a combination of field, laboratory culture, and molecular techniques to explore the evolution and ecological adaptations of aquatic invertebrates. After receiving my bachelor’s in Biology at Ripon College, with my senior research focusing on biodiversity of rotifers (zooplankton), I spent a summer at the Marine Biological Laboratory investigating gene copy number. My dissertation (PhD in Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology) focused on habitat adaptation and stress tolerance in rotifers. Specific projects ranged from RNAi assays, to experimental evolution studies of the induction of sex and diapausing stages in response to hydroperiod. In the Besansky laboratory, I am probing the molecular basis of saltwater tolerance in larval anophelines, using methods such as RNA-Seq assays of the transcriptome, QTL mapping, and bioinformatics. Both in my PhD dissertation and my postdoctoral research, I have benefited from collaboration with other scientists and undergraduates, and view training undergraduates as an important part of my efforts.