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PRODID:-//University of Otago//Events Calendar//EN
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X-WR-CALNAME:University of Otago Calendar
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UID:https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/events/special-biochemistry-seminar-professor-maurine-neiman-university-of-iowa
URL:https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/events/special-biochemistry-seminar-professor-maurine-neiman-university-of-iowa
DTSTART;TZID=Pacific/Auckland:20261123T120000
DTEND;TZID=Pacific/Auckland:20261123T130000
SUMMARY:Special Biochemistry seminar: Professor Maurine Neiman, University of Iowa
DESCRIPTION:I study the "why" of sexual reproduction, an evolutionary mystery that has fascinated biologists since Darwin. My lab group and I primarily use the Aotearoa New Zealand freshwater snail Potamopyrgus antipodarum as a model system because sexual and asexual lineages coexist in the wild, providing “natural experiments” that can illuminate the costs and benefits of sex. My research programme brings together diverse approaches and perspectives to study sex, from ecology and behavior to genomics and physiology. I highlight recent work focused on identifying the genomic consequences of asexuality, including accelerated accumulation of harmful mutations and a marked expansion of repetitive rRNA and histone genes in asexual lineages. I also use these snails to study invasion biology and as ecotoxicology models, finding, for example, that invasive asexual lineages reach reproductive maturity faster and tolerate high population densities better than native ones, and that plastic pollutants affect sperm morphology. I close by discussing "metascience" initiatives that I play a leadership role in, with the goal of catalysing and supporting a more open and inclusive scientific community. 
LOCATION:Biochemistry Room 2.31, Dunedin
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