Projects per year
Personal profile
Key Research Interests and Expertise
An inescapable consequence of sex in eukaryotes is the evolution of two sexes, generally are these males and females and two phases of the life cycle, a haploid and diploid phase. The existence of two sexes and two ploidy levels has important evolutionary consequences, which lie at the heart of our research. We aim to understand how selection acting at the diploid level affects the evolution of haploid gametes and in turn how selection at the haploid level affects the evolution of the diploid organism. We are particularly interested in the evolution of anisogamy and how postcopulatory sexual selection shapes the evolution of gametes, the evolution of different ploidy levels, the importance of sperm-mediated genetic and epigenetic effects and the evolution of sexual dimorphism and sex determination. We use a multitude of study organisms including the zebrafish Danio rerio, the Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, the filamentous fungus Neurospora crassa and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and combine different approaches such as comparative methods, experimental evolution and selection experiments, mathematical modeling, genetics and genomics.
Research Group or Lab Membership
Ding He - postdoctoral researcher
Ghazal Alavioon - postdoctoral researcher
Claire Armstrong - postdoctoral researcher
Berrit Kiehl - PhD student
David Murray - research asssistant
Rozalia Korbut - research assistant
Academic Background
Our lab website can be found at: https://simoneimmler.com/
We are on Twitter: @SimoneImmler
Network
-
Testing the Evolutionary Consequences of Haploid Selection in Animals
1/01/22 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
-
Half Life: Interactions between haploid selection and life histories
1/11/20 → 13/04/25
Project: Fellowship
-
Understanding the role of selection at the gametic level in adaptation to changing environments
Immler, S., Dalmay, T., Gage, M. & Moxon, S.
Natural Environment Research Council
31/08/19 → 30/08/22
Project: Research
-
The cost of longevity: transgenerational consequences of parental lifespan extension for offspring fitness
Maklakov, A., Chapman, T., Immler, S. & Thybert, D.
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
1/10/18 → 30/09/21
Project: Research
-
Haploid selection in animals: investigating the importance of genetic and epigenetic effects in sperm
1/04/17 → 30/11/19
Project: Research
-
Evolutionary history of sexual selection affects microRNA profiles in Drosophila sperm
Hotzy, C., Fowler, E., Kiehl, B., Francis, R., Mason, J., Moxon, S., Rostant, W., Chapman, T. & Immler, S., Feb 2022, In: Evolution. 76, 2, p. 310-319 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile7 Downloads (Pure) -
Morphological and ultrastructural alterations of zebrafish (Danio rerio) spermatozoa after motility activation
Sáez-Espinosa, P., Franco-Esclapez, C., Robles-Gómez, L., Silva, W. T. A. F., Romero, A., Immler, S. & Gómez-Torres, M. J., Aug 2022, In: Theriogenology. 188, p. 108-115 8 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
-
Evolutionary consequences of environmental effects on gamete performance
Crean, A. J. & Immler, S., 7 Jun 2021, In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 376, 1826, 20200122.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Citations (Scopus)11 Downloads (Pure) -
Evolution of plasticity in production and transgenerational inheritance of small RNAs under dynamic environmental conditions
Silva, W. T. A. F., Otto, S. P., Immler, S. & Fay, J. C. (ed.), 26 May 2021, In: PLoS Genetics. 17, 5, e1009581.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Downloads (Pure) -
Experimental evolution of adaptive divergence under varying degrees of gene flow
Tusso, S., Nieuwenhuis, B. P. S., Weissensteiner, B., Immler, S. & Wolf, J. B. W., Mar 2021, In: Nature Ecology & Evolution. 5, 3, p. 338–349 12 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Citations (SciVal)1 Downloads (Pure)
Press / Media
-
Study finds ‘old’ sperm produces healthier offspring
17/02/19
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
-
Women's bodies BLOCK weak sperm by creating a 'bottleneck' in the uterus where stronger swimmers force their way through
14/02/19
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
-
Offspring from older sperm are fitter and age more slowly
14/02/19
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
-
Not every sperm is sacred: Longer-lived sperm produce healthier offspring
10/07/17
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media
-
How Brexit is changing the lives of eight researchers
29/03/17
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Press / Media