Jeff Thompson

Dr. Jeff Thompson is a Lecturer in Evolutionary Developmental Biology at the University of Southampton. He holds a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship and a Newton International Fellowship. His research integrates molecular biology, developmental biology, and paleontology to study animal evolution, focusing on echinoderms as a model system.

Education: PhD in Geology from the University of Southern California (201?), postdoctoral positions at Baylor University and University College London, and a short tenure at The Natural History Museum in London.

Research interests include: evolution of body plans, macroevolutionary processes, molecular palaeobiology, biomineralisation, and taphonomic biases in the fossil record. Current projects involve 3D morphometrics of sea urchins, gene expression studies in skeletogenesis, and climate change impacts on marine organisms.

Scientific awards include the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship and Newton International Fellowship. Supervises 7 PhD students across Biological Sciences and INSPIRE programs.

Labs/Teams: Affiliated with the Institute for Life Sciences, Ecology & Evolution, and Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.