Evolutionary Genetics - EG
Marine Genomics

Rita Oliveira Afonso

Past Recent Members

Population genomics Procellariforms Demographic history Evolutionary biology

I have graduated in Biology from the Faculty of of Sciences of University of Lisbon (FCUL) in 2018. I have done volunteer work in the Evolutionary Genetics group for 4 months, where I conducted laboratory tasks intended for a genetic population and phylogenetic study of Pelagodroma marina. For 6 months, I attended a traineeship in the Molecular Ecology lab in Cardiff University, under the supervision of Mike Bruford.

Currently, I am a student of the Evolutionary and Developmental Biology MSc, and I am developing my thesis under the supervision of Mónica C. Silva (EG – cE3c) and Francisco Pina Martins (CoBiG2, cE3c). The main objective of my project is to deliver significant knowledge on Pterodroma cahow (Bermuda petrel) genetic patterns and demography following three major goals: (1) infer neutral genetic diversity and compare it to other sister taxa; (2) search for putative signatures of selection in candidate genes (Toll-like receptor genes); (3) infer the inbreeding status of the population.