Emma Whittington

1-315-443-7075
ewhittin@syr.edu

I’m interested in sexual selection, divergence and speciation.

Education:

Ph.D. – Syracuse University, 2013 – present

M.Res. in Evolutionary Biology – University of Bath, 2001-2012.

B.S. in Behavioural Biology – University of St Andrews, 2007-2011

Research Interests:

My research, thus far, has focused on sperm heteromorphism in Lepidoptera and dissecting its molecular underpinnings. Sperm heteromorphism describes the phenomena where males of a species produce more than one sperm morph in a single ejaculate, only one of which is capable of fertilising the egg. Essentially males are producing infertile but non-aberrant sperm in consistent and significant numbers (~96% of sperm in Manduca sexta). The function of infertile sperm morphs is largely unknown and evidence for single hypotheses is equivocal. I am using proteomic techniques to approach this question from a hitherto unstudied angle by analysing the differences in proteome composition in the two morphs.