Molly Uzzell
- University of Glasgow
I have followed a non-traditional path into science. Immigrating from the US at 18, I initially studied philosophy, then worked for several years as a bookseller and in a small publishing house, before following a call towards herpetology and returning to university to change careers. As an undergraduate, I took every volunteer and research opportunity I could, joining and leading research expeditions in Scotland and the Caribbean. During this time, a nascent interest in evolutionary theory and processes developed into a fascination.
My PhD project, 'Partitioning the roles of genetics and life history in reproductive biology', focuses on the Eurasian common lizard, Zootoca vivipara. Common lizards are reproductively bimodal, with some lineages laying eggs and others giving live birth, but these hybridise at one known site in Austria, producing hybrids with an intermediate phenotype (laying thin-shelled eggs late in development), with at least some hybrids able to back-cross to parental lineages. I am working to characterise reproductive isolation and genomic differentiation between the lineages by comparing the genomes of parents and offspring at the hybrid zone.