Holly Robertson
- Research Assistant
Contact
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Location
- Sainsbury Laboratory
- University of Cambridge, 47 Bateman Street, Cambridge, CB2 1LR
About
From 2017 to 2021 I studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. specialising in Genetics and an M.Sci. specialising in Systems Biology. I carried out my third-year undergraduate project here at SLCU in Moyroud Lab, working on the development of CAnDI, a tool to aid the investigation of gene tree conflict in large phylogenomic datasets. My fourth-year project was with Durbin Lab in Genetics, working on the role of heterozygous k-mers as part of the Tree of Life project.
I returned to Moyroud Group for my Ph.D. (currently awaiting viva) in October 2021, to investigate the role of conflict in the evolution of diversity, using the range of different petal patterns in Hibiscus trionum and related species as a model.
Research
Research interests
- Phylogenetics
- Gene tree conflict
My research focuses on the origins of phenotypic diversity, and what different approaches to phylogenomic and transcriptomic data can tell us about the evolution of novelty. I have investigated the contribution of gene tree conflict to the evolution of morphological convergence in the carnivorous Caryophyllales, and in so doing developed a new method to characterise patterns of conflict in homologous gene trees. I am now using this same method to investigate phenotypic convergence in the Trionum complex of Hibiscus species, particularly with respect to floral bullseye size and pigmentation. I am also investigating the evolution of gene expression in the Trionum complex.