User:Amy Smith

From ChoanoWiki

DPhil Student J.W. Jenkinson Laboratory for Evolution and Development Department of Zoology, University of Oxford.

My research focuses on the centriole and the various functions it has evolved to possess across eukaryotes. My past research investigated the potential sensory role of the flagellum of the intracellular life cycle stage of the protozoan parasites, Leishmania mexicana and Trypanosoma cruzi, through an in-depth examination of their structure and relative phylogenetic positions. More recently, I am aiming to shed some light on the evolutionary history of the centriole in the animal centrosome by focusing on choanoflagellates, the closest known outgroup to the Metazoa.