Lauren Sumner-Rooney
BA (Hons) Biological Sciences (1st Class) – University of Oxford, 2012
Research Interests
My research focusses on sensory systems in deep-sea invertebrates. Currently, I am investigating the function of a novel sensory organ in chitons (Mollusca, Polyplacophora). By using a combination of microscopic techniques, electrophysiology, behavioural experiments and potentially molecular biology, my aim is to discover the role of this sensory organ, and ultimately to learn more about its evolution and development. As part of my PhD I will also be studying other sensory systems in both the Mollusca and the Echinodermata. An understanding of such systems has profound implications for many other aspects of the biology of these animals, such as their evolution, ecology, and potential reactions to anthropogenic stresses, and yet they remain largely under-studied in non-arthropod invertebrate taxa.
Awards
2012 – Gibbs Prize in Biological Sciences (University of Oxford) for meritorious work in the Final Honour School.
Scholarships
2011 – Laboratory Studentship (St Anne’s College, University of Oxford)
2011 – Travel Grant (St Anne’s College, University of Oxford) – £500 to attend a field course in tropical forest ecology in Malaysian Borneo.
Research Grants
2012 – PhD Funding Award (Dept. of Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland)
Professional Experience
Member of the Professor Alex Rogers research group (Department of Zoology, University of Oxford), studying the feeding habits of the teleost fish Beryx decadactylis (July 2011).
Member of the Professor Allan Bradley research group (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Cambridge), investigating the potential of genetic modification in mouse embryonic stem cells in collaborative work between the Sanger Institute and Kymab (July-Aug 2010).
Contact Information
Tel: +44 (0)28 427 28230 (Ext.240)
Mobile: +44 (0)7762 286 236
Email: lsumnerrooney01@qub.ac.uk
Room: Queen's University Marine Laboratory, Portaferry - 02004
