معرفی
Tanja Schwander is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Lausanne's Faculty of Biology and Medicine, where she leads the Schwander Research Group. Her work focuses on evolutionary biology with particular emphasis on reproductive systems, sex determination mechanisms, and genomic evolution in insects.
Her research spans evolutionary genetics, sex chromosome evolution, asexual reproduction (particularly parthenogenesis), and the maintenance of sexual reproduction in natural populations. She primarily uses stick insects (Timema) and thrips (Aptinothrips) as model systems to investigate fundamental questions about reproductive polymorphism and the evolutionary consequences of different reproductive strategies.
Analysis of her 15 most recent publications reveals a consistent focus on genomic mechanisms underlying reproductive systems. Her work examines sex chromosome evolution, dosage compensation dynamics across developmental stages, centromere architecture, and the ecological factors maintaining sexual and asexual reproduction in sympatry. A significant portion of her research investigates the genomic signatures of different reproductive modes and the evolutionary transitions between them.
Professor Schwander actively supervises doctoral students, including Karim Ghali and Jelisaveta Djordjevic, whose theses examine asexuality in thrips and sexual dimorphism in stick insects, respectively. Her research group collaborates extensively with other laboratories, particularly the Keller Research Group at the University of Lausanne.
The Schwander Research Group maintains active field and laboratory components, with ongoing projects examining stick insect genomics, thrips ecology, and ant caste determination. Their work combines genomic, transcriptomic, and ecological approaches to address fundamental questions in evolutionary biology.
