Quentin Cronk

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Research Interest

Our lab integrates comparative genomics, molecular developmental biology and evolutionary biology to study plant form. We are interested in the how different morphologies evolve in plants, as well as the functional significance of morphological differences between species.

Our model organisms for this include the Leguminosae (floral morphology) and black cottonwood, Populus trichocarpa (adaptive evolution of trees). Next generation sequencing of whole genomes and transcriptomes is an important part of our work.

Funding for research in our lab comes from the Discovery Grants programme of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Genome Canada.

Team Members

Graduate students (PhD)

Mannfred Boehm – Hummingbird pollination
Mikko Paajanen – Asteraceae of St Helena
Yutong Zhang – Floral evolution
Seni Senjaya – Phylogeny and biology of tropical ginger genus, Alpinia

Postdoctoral Researchers

Biao Xiong – Genomics of Lauraceae

Associated researchers

Dr Diana Percy – plant insect interactions

Former Graduate students (PhD)

Julia Nowak – polarity and evolution of leaves
Xinxin Xue – molecular basis of evolutionary shifts in flower colour
Sæmundur Sveinsson – evolutionary studies in Lathyrus

Former Postdoctoral Researchers

Armando Geraldes – population genomics of black cottonwood trees (Populus trichocarpa)
Charles Hefer – bioinformatics and genomics, POPCAN project (Douglas lab)
Daisie Huang – evolutionary genomics of Salicaceae, POPCAN project
Ji Yong Yang – evolutionary population studies