Katja Kasimatis

Katja Kasimatis is an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia, specializing in the evolutionary and genetic mechanisms underlying sexual differentiation. Her research integrates experimental evolution, genomics, and population genetic theory to explore how shared genomes produce sex-specific traits and the long-term evolutionary impacts of sexual conflict. She holds a B.S. in marine biology (University of California Santa Cruz, 2013), a Ph.D. (University of Oregon, 2019), and completed postdoctoral work at the University of Toronto (2019–2023).

• B.S., University of California Santa Cruz (marine biology with Honors), 2013
• Ph.D., University of Oregon, 2019
• Postdoc, University of Toronto, 2019–2023

Her work leverages Caenorhabditis nematode model systems to dissect the interplay between sex-specific selection and genomic architecture. Key areas include proteomic analysis of sperm activation, dominance reversals in genetic conflict, and transcriptomic responses to sexual selection. She also investigates human genomics for sexually antagonistic viability patterns.

Recent publications highlight trends in reproductive interference, transcriptomic sexual conflict, and the genomic constraints imposed by sexually antagonistic selection. Her lab employs cutting-edge techniques like microfluidic assays and auxin-mediated sterility induction to study nematode mating dynamics and lifespan trade-offs.

Current projects in the Kasimatis Lab focus on experimental evolution in nematodes, population genetic theory, and spatiotemporal gene expression analysis. The lab is actively recruiting graduate students and postdocs to expand these research directions.