DINA NAVON
Ph.D.
Dr. Navon earned her doctorate from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the evolution and genetic basis of plasticity across the entire body in African cichlid fishes. Her research dissected the ways in which various interactions, such as that between the genotype and the environment, build on one another to produce phenotypic variation and shape evolutionary trajectories. She next moved to Bamfield, British Columbia, to start a postdoctoral fellowship working with Dr. Tim Higham and Dr. Sean Rogers studying the genetic basis and ontogeny of behavior, trophic/locomotor integration, and behavioral plasticity in response to different diets in threespine stickleback. She is now joining the Nakamura lab to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying variation in fin morphology in African cichlids. She is also extremely passionate about science communication and outreach, having written for several blogs during her tenure at UMass and having taught a graduate level seminar in science communication for two years. She is looking forward to the opportunity to broaden her molecular toolkit and develop her teaching portfolio as a member of the incoming 2020 IRACDA-INSPIRE cohort!
Selected publications:
Hedgehog signaling is necessary and sufficient to mediate craniofacial plasticity in teleosts. Navon D. et. al, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020
Genetic and developmental basis for fin shape variation in African cichlid fishes. Navon D. et. al, Mol Ecol. 2017
Awards:
NIH IRACDA-INSPIRE fellow (2020-)
Grand in aid of Research (SICB)
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