Małgorzata Gazda

Biography

My name is Małgorzata Anna Gazda (nickname Gosia) and I am and Assistant Professor at University of Montreal. My work focuses on associating genotype with phenotype in order to better understand biology. I integrate population genetics and genomics with functional approaches and experiments in order to provide mechanistic insights into gene function and regulation. I’m interested in wide range of phenotypes from coloration to vocal learning.

For my Postdoc at Institute Pasteur in Paris I worked on evolution of menstruation using state-of-the-art comparative and functional genomic assays.
For my PhD at CIBIO, University of Porto, Portugal, I used next generation sequencing to undercover genes underlying traits of general importance in avian biology and evolution, such as coloration and singing in canary birds as well as flying performance and orientation in racing pigeons. I used domestic species, what facilitated possibility to find genes causing extreme phenotypic variation, which resulted from the strong artificial selection. I had a unique opportunity to find out which genes are responsible for the traits under study and also to provide insights into the evolutionary processes that created those traits. The most important goal of my research so far was understanding of the complete evolutionary mechanism of trait generation, from causative genetic change to specific phenotype.
Prior to my PhD studies, I graduated from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland with a MSc thesis about heterozygosity-fitness correlations. Afterwards I gained experience working 2 years in the Museum and Institute of Zoology PAN, Warsaw, Poland and Technical University of Munchen, Germany as a research assistant. I worked in the molecular laboratory, developed set of microsatellites and sexing markers for birds. I have extended fieldwork experience : tropical biology courses (Venezuela and Madagascar), followed 4 months ornithological field work in New Caledonia.

Awards