Professor Jan Strugnell

James Cook University, Australia

Professor Jan Strugnell completed her BSc (Hons) at James Cook University before obtaining her DPhil at Oxford University, UK, funded by a Rhodes Scholarship.  During her DPhil she used molecular and fossil evidence to investigate phylogenetic relationships and divergence times within cephalopods (octopus, squids, cuttlefish). Jan then worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at Queen’s University, Belfast, the British Antarctic Survey, and Cambridge University UK, where she investigated evolutionary relationships within and between Antarctic and deep-sea octopods.  Jan is now based at James Cook University where she investigates the evolution and function of marine organisms using genomic and transcriptomic techniques. Her research encompasses both applied and blue skies questions and includes investigation of population differentiation, adaptation, resilience and susceptibility to temperature stress, range shifts and method development. She also continues to investigate population and species level molecular evolution in marine species in the context of past climatic and geological change.