Joel Laia
PhD StudentI hold a Msc in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa (FCUL).
During my Academic and Volunteering path, I have joined groups mostly researching Immunology and Development, as I was interested in the mechanisms occurring in a single individual leading to a specific phenotype, whether it be a disease or a colour pattern.
Nonetheless, I opened up my horizons and became interested in the ultimate mechanisms of phenotype. Currently, I am enrolling the Biodiversity, Evolution and Genetics doctoral programme in CE3C-FCUL with an FCT fellowship, under the supervision of Professor Helena Trindade and co-supervision of Professor Carlos Fernandes.
In my PhD thesis I am addressing both developmental and evolutionary questions regarding the terpene volatile compounds of a Portuguese native plant, which family is of high value for Economy and Medicine. Thymus caespititius is found in the mainland, Madeira and Açores. The interesting fact is that in the mainland and Madeira the chemotype is the same, while in the Açores there is a wide polymorphism regarding the chemotype of the species. Here I address the following questions: Is the Açorean polymorphism the result of adaptive divergence or gain of developmental plasticity? Is the single chemotype found in the mainland and Madeira the result of bottleneck from Açores or canalization? What is the effect of positively selected sites in the terpene synthases?
- Email: jlaia@fc.ul.pt
- Web References: ORCID
- Research Group: Plant Functional Ecology, Wildlife Genetics