My research interests lie in comparative genomics, systematics, and molecular evolution of bryophytes, with a current focus on comparative chloroplast genomics and shifts in life history strategies associated with fungal symbioses in simple thalloid liverworts, specifically in a family characterized by morphological reduction, the Aneuraceae.

My dissertation research focused on the systematics, and reconstruction of the plastid genome, of Aneura mirabilis, a
non-photosynthetic (myco-heterotrophic) liverwort. Evolution of the plastid genome of plants is constrained by selection to maintain its primary function: photosynthesis. However, if a plant no longer requires photosynthesis to fix organic carbon, these functional constraints may be relaxed and a pattern of gene loss and functional reduction may be observed. Aneura mirabilis is the only non-photosynthetic species in a genus of photosynthetic liverworts which provides a comparative framework for studying how the plastid genome evolves under relaxed selective constraints.

Currently, I'm working in the lab of Bernard Goffinet, on the Liverwort Tree of Life project. Our part in this collaborative project
(see "Links" for more information) is to reconstruct plastid genome maps for several liverwort species and identify, and interpret,
potential phylogenomic characters.