Lynne Gardner

Background

About Lynne Gardner

Over the past 13 years, I have focused on gaining a broad range of scientific experiences, including both laboratory-based research and field work, while employed as a research assistant or research technician. I conducted field research on snake physiological ecology (published in Copeia) and field and laboratory research on urban rat ecology and disease (published in Molecular Ecology and PLoS ONE, in review in Proceedings of the Royal Society, Series B) and black bears (published in the Journal of Mammalogy). I possess an avid interest in wildlife and domestic animal diseases, and have conducted research on several diseases, including hantavirus in urban rat populations, a herpesvirus in chickens, and a skin disease of Quarter horses. Since 2004 (and currently), I have mentored research projects of five undergraduate students, one graduate student, and one high school student and have supervised four student employees and volunteers during my tenure at three different institutions. Additionally, since 2003, I have taught courses to undergraduates, including Vertebrate Biology Laboratory, General Ecology Laboratory, Human Physiology Laboratory, and Introduction to Biology Laboratory. I am currently employed as a quarter-time teaching assistant developing an upper-level undergraduate Medical Microbiology Laboratory course that I will teach the fall semester of 2014. My dissertation research uses population genetics to examine levels of genetic similarity between white-tailed deer in different areas in order to provide valuable information on the degree of connectivity between deer populations within Iowa and throughout the Midwest. Developing an understanding of levels of connectivity between deer populations can provide insight into potential distances and directions of the spread of deer diseases, such as chronic wasting disease (CWD).