Betancourt Lab

Jo studied for her B.Sc in Biological Sciences with Study in Continental Europe at the University of Birmingham, UK and University of Montpellier II, France before attaining a PhD in Evolutionary Ecology at the University of Liverpool, under the supervision of Prof Greg Hurst. During her PhD she investigated host factors that determine compatibility to novel endosymbiont infections, following a host-shift. Jo used the Spiroplasma/ Drosophila/ parasitoid wasp and the Arsenophonus/ Nasonia systems to address the tempo of evolution of compatibility and the role of gut microbiota and the immune system in determining compatibility. As a PDRA, she will  investigate host-transposable element relationships and transposable element invasions.

Adriana is a biologist who obtained her Master's and PhD degrees in Genetics and Molecular Biology from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil). Under the supervision of Dr Elgion Loreto, she conducted research on the evolution of transposable elements in Drosophila species. Additionally, she spent 11 months as a visiting scholar in Dr Harmit Malik's lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle (US). Following her PhD, she worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto Carlos Chagas (Fiocruz-PR, Brazil), where she explored diverse research areas, including the development of expression vectors for Trypanosoma cruzi, evolutionary studies of gene families and transposable elements in trypanosomatids, as well as the development of transposition systems for mammalian cell transfection. Driven by her persistent passion for transposons, Adriana joined Dr Andrea Betancourt's lab as a research associate to help understand the process of transposable elements invasions and their selective impact in Drosophila species. 

Charlton obtained his MBio from the University of Warwick studying sex determination is a nematode species named Auanema freiburgenesis. In March 2023 he started his PhD at the University of Liverpool, under the supervision of Professor Andrea Betancourt. His PhD aims to investigate the evolutionary genetics behind the resistance and susceptibility of Drosophila simulans to a recent invasion of the transposable element, P element.

Venera received her PhD in Evolutionary Genetics studying adaptation to seasonal environments at Prof Anneli Hoikkala’s group at University of Jyväskylä, Finland. Before starting her Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship in trypanosomatid research in Drosophila, she studied genetics of mating behaviour (Prof Michael Ritchie lab, UK), adaptation to harsh conditions (Dr Maaria Kankare lab, Finland) and eco-evolutionary dynamics (Dr Patrik Nosil lab, France).

Tom Achieved his MBiolSci at the University of Liverpool, researching meiotic drive and its suppression in Drosophila. As research technician he assists Dr Jo Griffin with her study of transposable elements and thier transmission from one Drosopihila species to another.

Flora obtained a Bachelors degree in Zoology and a Masters degree in Advanced Biological Sciences, focusing on Evolution and Behavioural Ecology at the University of Liverpool. Their MSc project looked at incipient speciation caused by pre-zygotic isolating barriers in Drosophilla simulans. Following this, Flora then worked for 3 years as a technician within the Betancourt Lab Group, helping set up and maintain several long term experiments. In October 2022, Flora started a PhD supervised by Andrea Betancourt and Ilik Saccheri looking at the impact of range expansions on genomic invasions within Lepidoptera. This project aims to examine the historic transposable element invasions that have occurred within the past 100 years across 20 British lepidopteran species experiencing range shifts.

Lianne received her MRes in Advanced Biological Science at the University of Liverpool resolving the transcriptome of the symbiotic bacteria Arsenophonus nasoniae. She has held various technical positions at the Universtiy, including cancer research and teaching.

Her current role in the Betancourt lab includes assisting with research projects and maintaining the Drosophila stocks.

Rosie received her MSci in Biological Sciences from Lancaster University, completing two projects: a computational study of virus-derived peptides as antiviral agents, and a lab-based project on the role of the Acer gene in female Drosophila sperm storage. After a short hiatus from the sciences, she applied for an MRes Advanced Biological Sciences at the University of Liverpool, under Andrea Betancourt's supervision, in order to develop her bioinformatic skills. She is currently finalizing her research project on the integration of DNA viruses into lepidopteran genomes.