Dr. Siri Birkeland

Dr. Siri Birkeland

Associate Professor in plant evolutionary genomics

Team

Current lab members

Cassandra Elphinstone, Postdoc

Cassandra Elphinstone

Cassandra is a two year NSERC postdoctoral fellow studying the genomics of Arctic plants in the Birkeland lab. She is also collaborating with and will spend about a third of her time in the Todesco Lab at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Her postdoctoral research is exploring the role of structural variation in local adaptation in selfing and outcrossing Arctic species. What types of genomic variation are involved in the local adaptation of plants to diverse tundra environments (single base pair changes and/or larger chromosomal rearrangements)? Does the genomics of local adaptation differ between tundra species that reproduce through self-fertilization (selfing) and species that rely on fertilization from other individuals (outcrossing)?

E-mail: cassandra.elphinstone@gmail.com

César Herrero González, Doctoral Research Fellow

Cesar Herrero Gonzalez

César is a PhD candidate studying the genomic basis of plant adaptation to Arctic environments. His research focuses on identifying convergent genomic signatures associated with adaptation to extreme conditions. He previously trained at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where he studied climate-driven variation in Mediterranean fir species, and completed his master’s at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, working on the genomic and epigenomic structure of grasses.

E-mail: c.h.gonzalez@nhm.uio.no

Lise Grønnerød Huseby, Doctoral Research Fellow

Lise Huseby

Lise is a PhD candidate interested in the genomic basis of plant speciation and how it is shaped by mating systems. She completed her MSc thesis on the population genetics and ecology of the endangered plant Drymocallis rupestris. She is currently working at NORSKOG.

E-mail: l.g.huseby@nhm.uio.no

Fenna Sondorp, Intern

Fenna Sondorp

Fenna is an intern from Inholland University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Medical Laboratory Research. She is currently completing an internship focused on long-read sequencing of Arctic plants.

E-mail: fennasondorp@gmail.com

Marie Kristine Brandrud, Guest Researcher

Marie Kristine Brandrud

Marie is interested in genomics and speciation. The Brochmann-group at the Natural History Museum has previously showed an accumulation of redproductive incompatibilities in arctic selfing species, and Marie is currently working to genetically pinpoint those incompatibilities with QTL analysis in Cochlearia groenlandica. She also aims to investigate chromosome evolution in Cochlearia and will compare the Cochlearia groenlandica genome to its sister, Cochlearia excelsa, in a collaborative project with the Yant Lab at Nottingham University.

E-mail: m.k.brandrud@nhm.uio.no

You?

prospective student or postdoc 1

We welcome inquiries from motivated individuals who share our passion for plants and evolution! Whether you’re a postdoctoral researcher seeking new challenges, a recent MSc looking to pursue a Ph.D., or a bachelor student seeking a potential master project, drop me an email at siri.birkeland@nhm.uio.no!

We are also happy to support individual postdoc and researcher applications like the MSCA postdoctoral fellowship, or the Human Frontier Science Program Postdoctoral Fellowship. In addition, we have our own postdoctoral fellowship within the STADIS research hub at the Natural History Museum, which is announced at a yearly basis.

Co-supervised with other labs

The EDGE group

Our lab is a part of the EDGE group at the Natural History Museum in Oslo. EDGE is an interdisciplinary research group consisting of people working on areas ranging from plant speciation and phylogenomics, the development of metabarcoding as a next-generation biodiversity assessment tool for society, and people’s influence on wild plants through use and trade throughout history.

Collaborators and friends

Sources: Silhouette by Freepik