 | Post Doc Project Group |
Research Interests
My research background encompasses reproductive senescence, sexual selection and sexual conflict. I have used feral fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus) and Drosophila melanogaster to address topics including:
- Sex-specific senescence in reproductive traits
- Male reproductive senescence and sexual conflict
- Mechanisms of cryptic female choice
- Spread of an X-linked sexually antagonistic gene
This work is in collaboration with Tom Pizzari, Judith Mank, Stuart Wigby and Charlie Cornwallis (EGI, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK).
My current post doctoral research, in collaboration with Urban Friberg, aims to investigate sex biased gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster. Males and females have different phenotypic optima and yet share the same genome. Theory suggests this problem can be resolved if regulation of sex-biased genes resides on the X chromosome. This is known as the X-hypothesis, and I aim to test this hypothesis by examining the genomic distribution of regulatory elements influencing sex-biased gene expression.
Academic profile
| Feb 2011 – present | Wenner-Gren Postdoc, University of Uppsala, Sweden |
| March 2010 – Feb 2011 | Leverhulme Postdoc, EGI, University of Oxford, UK |
| Oct 2005 – July 2009 | D.Phil, Male ageing and sexual selection in the fowl, EGI, University of Oxford, UK |
Publications
Dean, R,, Nakagawa, S & Pizzari, T. 2011. The risk and intensity of sperm ejection in female birds. The American Naturalist 178, 343-354
Dean, R, Cornwallis, CK, Lovlie, H, Worley, K., Richardson, DS, Pizzari, T. 2010 Male reproductive senescence causes potential for sexual conflict over mating. Current Biology 20, 1192-1196
Dean, R, Bonsall, MB & Pizzari, T. 2007. Aging and sexual conflict. Science 316, 383-384
Pizzari, T, Dean, R, Pacey, A, Moore, H & Bonsall, MB 2008. The evolutionary ecology of pre- and post-meiotic sperm senescence. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 23, 131-140.