Interested in evolutionary processes that generate selection-driven cryptic population structure, I work with a variety of genetic and 'omic' methodologies to investigate the molecular basis of adaptive genetic variation primarily in species of aquaculture interest, namely salmonids and rotifers of the genus Brachionus.

The ultimate goal is to establish a mechanistic link between the genotype, the molecular phenotype and the environment in order to understand the genetic basis of adaptation and speciation in these, economically important, organisms. Such knowledge would be important for improving our basic understanding of evolution, but also be critical to efforts to define gene-based management strategies.

Being a member of Prof. C. Primmer's research group, I am currently in close collaboration with the senior post-docs Dr. E. Leder and Dr. A. Vasemägi in a number of projects in the framework of the Finnish Centre of Excellence in Evolutionary Genetics and Physiology. I am also involved in the BALTGENE project. Ongoing collaborations with the School of Biology in Thessaloniki, Greece, focus in the area of population genetics but also in molecular systematics (research groups of Prof. T.J. Abatzopoulos, Dr. A. Triantafyllidis, Dr. E. Michaloudi and Dr. I. Kappas).