Dr Jessica Worthington Wilmer - Queensland Museum Staff
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Qualifications: |
BSc – 1987-1989 – University of Queensland |
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Biographical Info: |
After finishing her PhD in 1996 on the population genetics of the Australian ghost bat (the bats at the focus of the Mt Etna mining controversy of the late 1980s), Jessica spent almost 5 years based overseas as a postdoctoral researcher. From 1996-1999 she worked at the Zoology Department of the University of Cambridge using genetic markers to study the mating system (eg paternity, reproductive success) of British grey seals. After winning an International Fellowship from the American Association of University Women, Jessica moved to the Biology Department of Boston University, USA in 1999 where she worked for 2 years on her own research project investigating the link between flight, longevity and rates of molecular evolution in bats. Jessica returned to Australia in 2001 and following a desire to move away from a purely academic base and pursue a growing interest in public science education, joined the Queensland Museum (QM) in 2002 as its first specialist geneticist (as opposed to taxonomist) and helped establish the Molecular Identities Laboratory. The lab was a new initiative for the QM and affected a significant expansion of its scientific capacity and infrastructure. In addition to setting up and managing the lab Jessica also played an instrumental role in establishing the QM’s first frozen tissue collection, which she is also manages in collaboration with the other Biodiversity Section’s Collection Managers. While at the museum Jessica has been involved in a number of very interesting projects which are diverse both in terms of the scientific questions being asked and the animal groups on which those questions are focused. Examples of some of these projects are the validation of a DNA-based diagnostic tests for marteiliosis (QX disease) of Sydney rock oysters, examining the utility of molecular data to aid in species identification of sea anemones and the identification of new species of leaf tail geckos and litter skinks. Two of her current research projects are the population dynamics and landscape genetics of an endangered “mound spring” snail (collaborating with the University of Queensland and BHP Billiton) and the molecular systematics of ring-tailed geckos in north Queensland, PNG and the Solomon Islands (collaborating with the QM’s herpetology section, University of Sydney and the Bishop Museum, Hawaii). |
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Contact: |
You can contact Queensland Museum staff via our Inquiry Centre.
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