Dr Amy Slender

I am currently employed in the Lab of Evolutionary Genetics and Sociality under Assoc. Prof. Michael Gardner. This position is funded by an ARC Linkage Grant awarded to Mike to undertake research on the affects of two parapatric tick species on the divergence of Sleepy Lizard MHC.

I completed my PhD in 2018 at Flinders University under the supervision of Prof Sonia Kleindorfer and Assoc. Prof Michael Gardner. This project was to understand the molecular and ecological factors that affecting a threatened and endemic bird species, the thick-billed grasswren. I showed that two subspecies had made secondary contact and were interbreeding but gene flow was restricted possibly due to differences in habitat and behaviour.

I have a broad research background where I have worked on transgenic mouse models to determine the genetic basis of phenotypes seen in Down's Syndrome at the National Institute of Medical Research, London (now apart of the Francis Crick Institute), the immunological response of Aboriginal people with the crusted form of scabies at the Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin and the efficacy of Streptoccocal vaccines in adults and children at the Centre of Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, Oxford University. I completed my undergraduate degree in Sydney, NSW, where I worked on research projects on wildlife health such as in the Rufus-hare Wallaby and the Koala.