Laboratory of Evolutionary and Ecological Genomics
Thea Gessler

Thea Gessler

Position
  • PhD Candidate
I am a PhD student in the Interdepartmental Genetics and Genomics program. I am interested in the molecular basis of phenotypic plasticity in turtles, including its regulation, origin, and evolution.

4. Gessler TB. 2024. Experiences in Biodiversity Research: A Field Course. Iowa State University Digital Press. https://doi.org/10.31274/isudp

3. Zdyrski C, Vojtech G, Gessler TB, Ralston A, Sifuentes-Romero I, Kundu D, Honold, S, Wickham H, Topping N, Sahoo DK, Bista B, Tamplin J, Ospina O, Piñeyro P, Arriaga M, Galan JA, Meyerholz DK, Allenspach K, Mochel JP, and Valenzuela N. 2024. Establishment and Characterization of Turtle Liver Organoids Provides a Potential Model to Decode their Unique Adaptations. Communications Biology, 7 (1): 218. DOI 10.1038/s42003-024-05818-1. 

2. Gessler TB, Wu Z, Valenzuela N. 2023. Transcriptomic thermal plasticity underlying gonadal development in a turtle with ZZ/ZW sex chromosomes despite canalized genotypic sex determination. Ecology and Evolution 13, e9854.

1. Lee LS, Navarro-Domínguez BM, Wu Z, Montiel EE, Badenhorst D, Bista B, Gessler TB, and Valenzuela N. 2020. Karyotypic evolution of sauropsid vertebrates illuminated by optical and physical mapping of the painted turtle and slider turtle genomes. Genes, 11, 928, doi:10.3390/genes11080928.