Associate Professor Jan Engelstaedter

Associate Professor

School of the Environment
Faculty of Science
j.engelstaedter@uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 57959

Overview

I am broadly interested in the evolutionary biology of sexual processes, parasitism, and the interplay between these phenomena. Most of my work involves mathematical models, but I also do experimental and field work. Currently, my research focuses on the following topics:

  • Reproductive parasites. These parasites, which include the famous bacterium Wolbachia, infect many insect species and manipulate the reproduction of their hosts in fascinating ways.
  • Recombination in bacteria. Bacteria reproduce clonally, but many still exchange genes with other bacteria, for example through plasmids or the uptake of free DNA from the environment. I'm especially interested in how recombination can affect the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
  • Host-parasite coevolution. Hosts and parasites interact in an antagonistic manner, which may produce interesting coevolutionary dynamics. I am also scrutinizing the Red Queen hypothesis, which posits that host-parasite coevolution can produce selection for recombination and sexual reproduction.
  • Parthenogenesis in animals. Although most animals reproduce sexually, some species have given up sex and consist of asexually reproducing females only. I am interested in the factors that enhance or inhibit the evolution of such parthenogenetic species and on their long-term evolutionary fate.

http://engelstaedterlab.org/

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University College London

Publications

View all Publications

Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

  • Doctor Philosophy

View all Supervision

Publications

Book Chapter

  • Warnock, Rachel C. M. and Engelstädter, Jan (2021). The molecular clock as a tool for understanding host-parasite evolution. The evolution and fossil record of parasitism: coevolution and paleoparasitological techniques. (pp. 417-450) edited by Kenneth De Baets and John Warren Huntley. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-52233-9_13

Journal Article

Conference Publication

  • Nor, Igor, Hermelin, Danny, Charlat, Sylvain, Engelstädter, Jan, Reuter, Max, Duron, Olivier and Sagot, Marie-France (2010). Mod/Resc Parsimony Inference. 21st Annual Symposium on Combinatorial Pattern Matching, Brooklyn, NY, United States, 21-23 June 2010. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-13509-5_19

Other Outputs

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

  • Master Philosophy — Principal Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

    Other advisors:

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Master Philosophy — Associate Advisor

  • Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor

Completed Supervision