Lily Fogg

PostDoc in the group of Prof. Walter Salzburger

Current Research

My research interests concern the interplay between ecology, evolution, and development (eco-evo-devo). In my doctoral degree, I studied this interplay in the visual systems of fishes from some of the most vibrant (coral reef) and vast (deep sea) habitats on Earth. Using this approach, I discovered, for example, that the pressures of preparing for life in the deep sea have pushed deep-sea fishes to use a visual development pathway that is unique among vertebrates.

In my postdoc at the Salzburger lab, I am applying an eco-evo-devo approach to the most diverse family of vertebrates on the planet – cichlid fishes. Specifically, the objective of my project is to determine how developmental trajectories have influenced evolutionary diversification in the adaptive radiation of the cichlid fishes of Lake Tanganyika. To achieve this, I am using stable isotope analyses, landmark-based morphometrics, RNA in situ hybridisation and bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing to study eco-morphologically diverse species spanning the entire radiation. Using this approach, I will work at the interface of ontogeny, evolution, and ecology to answer longstanding questions about the developmental axis of rapid evolutionary diversification. These findings will also contribute more broadly to our understanding of the origin of new species on the timescales of a single lifetime through to deep evolutionary time.

Curriculum Vitae

2022 -	PostDoc: Zoological Institute, University of Basel, CH
2018-2022	PhD / Dr.: (Zoology) Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, AU
2015	Honours: Neuroscience, Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, AU
2011-2012	Bachelor: Medical Science, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, Griffith University, AU