Maria Daniela Santos Nunes

Maria Daniela Santos Nunes is a Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary and Developmental Biology at Oxford Brookes University's School of Biological and Medical Sciences. She leads the Phenotypic Evolution and Adaptation research group, focusing on the genetic basis of complex traits and evolutionary processes.

• Research Interests: Evolutionary Biology, Developmental Genetics, Genetic Architecture, and Population Genetics.
• Key Themes: Morphological evolution in Drosophila, Wolbachia symbiosis, and gene regulatory networks.

Her recent publications highlight trends in genital diversification, gene network evolution, and speciation genetics, often leveraging comparative genomics and experimental evolutionary developmental biology.

• Scientific Awards:
  • NERC Grant (2015-2017): £417,670 for genetic architecture studies.
  • Nigel Groome Research Studentship (2015-2018).
• Supervision:
  • Co-supervised 6 PhD students (including Amber Ridgway and Joanna Hagen).
  • Supervised research students and postdocs in collaborative projects.
• Grants: Involved in BBSRC-funded projects on organ size evolution.

Labs/Teams: Member of Oxford Brookes' Ecology and Evolution research groups, contributing to DrosoPhyla genomic resources and Drosophila terminalia standardization atlases.