And the cake was made by my amazing lab mate @cheyennemckinley.bsky.social!! It also features a little bioluminescent toadfish

After a hiatus, I’m jumping back into Bluesky! Updates: I defended my PhD @ UCSB with @ostratodd.bsky.social in the spring and am now a postdoc @ UChicago continuing to study the convergent evolution of bioluminescence (and am now diving deeper into the molecular mechanisms)!

I will be giving my dissertation seminar next Monday, 4/29 at 12 PM PDT! I'll be sharing some of my work on the convergent evolution of bioluminescence in ostracods and toadfishes. Please reach out if you'd like a zoom link!

In the last session, we will hear from Becca Young, Aida Verdes, Jack Schultz, Liz Alter, and Todd Oakley (@ostratodd.bsky.social). Their talks will range from mutualistic behavior and visual adaptations in marine systems to the evolution of unique defenses in jellyfish and plants

In the second session, we will hear from Tristan Stayton, Matthew Kolmann, and Scott Edwards. Their talks will range from phenotypic integration and feeding morphology in vertebrates to the use of phylogenies to identify genotype-phenotype variation in convergence

In the first session, we will hear from Gabriella Wolff, @aaronhgriffing.bsky.social, Nigel Anderson, and Sarah Diamond. Talks range from brain structures for learning & memory in crustaceans to amphibian and reptile behavior and physiology to physiological convergence in urban heat islands

Hello #SICB2024 ! Check out our convergent evolution symposium tomorrow (1/5) in Ballroom B. We have an awesome line-up of presentations about evolutionary convergence in diverse study systems and across levels of biological organization

My first post here!! Hello world, I study the molecular evolution of bioluminescence in ostracods (shown below), other invertebrates, and toadfishes. Follow for cool bioluminescence/evolution posts, stay for the bad puns 😊