Ted Morrow, assistant professor

Contact

Address
Dept of Animal Ecology
Evolutionary Biology Centre (EBC)
Uppsala University
Norbyvägen 18 D
SE-752 36 Uppsala
SWEDEN

Telephone
+46 18 471 2676

Telefax
+46 18 471 6484

Cellular
+46 70 23 53 141

My Research

My research focuses on sexual selection and sexual conflict. I currently have two main projects:
1. The importance of sexual conflict in evolution. We are using ecological genomics to examine whether evidence of sexual conflict can be found in patterns of gene expression.
2. The evolution of sperm morphology. Sperm are the most variable of animal cells and I am interested in contributing to our somewhat sparse understanding of this diversity. Methods include comparative analysis and quantitative genetics.

Brief C.V.
2005-2009 Forskarassistent, Uppsala University (funding: VR)
2003-2005 Postdoc, UC Santa Barbara (USA) with Bill Rice
2000-2003 Postdoc, Umeå and Uppsala University with Göran Arnqvist
2000 PhD, University of Liverpool (UK) supervised by Matt Gage

Current Lab Members

Paolo Innocenti started his PhD project in April 2007. His project will examine gene expression in relation to sexual conflict using D. melanogaster. His first paper is published in Journal of Evolutionary Biology

Richard Bailey is a postdoc working with Anna Qvarnström (PI), Urban Friberg and myself on a project that will will examine the genetics of reproductive isolation in divergent populations of D. melanogaster.

Jessica Abbott is a Swedish Research Council postdoc working on the genetic basis of sexually antagonistic selection.

Eric Blomgren is currently with us doing his 10 week "forskningspraktik".

Ilona Flis is an Erasmus student from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. She will be investigating the hormonal control and fitness consequences of female resistance in the flies.

Previous lab members

Stefan Hornostaj visited from Warsaw University, Poland and carryied out his Master's project in my lab.
Aparna Meerupati conducted her "forskningspraktik" and her Examen/honours project. She aimed to construct a molecular phylogeny of cimicomorphan bugs. She also contributed to collecting data for a paper published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology Vol. 21: 1692-1702.
Nicolas Rode from Lyon, carried out his honours project which aimed to examine the reaction norms for adult male fitness and body condition, in D. melanogaster. His work has recently been published in Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata.
Agnes Leijon worked on her honours (Examen) project here which was concerned with environmental effects on sperm size in D. melanogaster. Her project work contributed to a publication in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology Vol. 21: 1692-1702.
Mikiko Skoglund completed her 1 month "forskningspraktik" in my lab during 2006.
Bram Kuijper worked in my lab as a guest researcher for 3 months in 2006. He is currently beginning a PhD at the Department of Theoretical Biology, Univ. Groningen. His work was recently published in Fly Vol. 3: 1-3

Past Collaborators

Andrew Stewart currently in the Rice lab, UCSB
Tim Lew a Master's student at UCSB
Claudia Fricke (UEA, UK)
Scott Pitnick (Syracuse)
Trevor E. Pitcher (University of Windsor, Canada)
José Andrés currently in the Harrison lab, Cornell

Invited Talks and Lectures

"Sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster" (7th June 2007) Mini-symposium on Sperm Competition and Sexual Conflict, Stockholm University.

"Conflict and choice in reproduction" (15 March 2007) SERL 3rd Meeting in Ecology and Behaviour, CNRS Montpellier, France.

"Könskonflikter i naturen" (20 april 2006) Part of a popular science seminar series for the general public "Utvecklingssamtal för nyfikna". Fries-salen, EBC, Uppsala University

"Fertilization in mammals - an evolutionary perspective" (27 November 2006) CRU postgraduate course "Fertilization and Implantation in Mammals". SLU, Ultuna, Uppsala.

Opportunities

If you are an undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate or postdoc and would like to carry out some research in my lab then please get in touch. Email me at ted.morrow@ebc.uu.se. There are number of ways funding can be arranged either from your own country or via the numerous Swedish funding bodies.

Some Selected Publications

A complete list with pdfs can be found here.

Innocenti, P. and Morrow, E.H. 2009. Immunogenic males: a genome-wide analysis of reproduction and the cost of mating in Drosophila melanogaster females. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 22, 964-973.

Morrow, E. H., Leijon, A. and Meerupati, A. 2008. Hemiclonal analysis reveals significant genetic, environmental and genotype x environment effects on sperm size in Drosophila melanogaster. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 21, 1692-1702.

Stewart, A.D., E.H. Morrow, and W.R. Rice. 2005. Assessing putative interlocus sexual conflict in Drosophila melanogaster using experimental evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society series B 272, 2029-2035.

Morrow, E.H. 2004. How the sperm lost its tail: the evolution of aflagellate sperm. Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 79, 795-814.

Gage, M.J.G. and E.H. Morrow. 2003. Experimental evidence for the evolution of numerous, tiny sperm via sperm competition. Current Biology 13, 754-757.

Morrow, E.H. and M.J.G. Gage. 2000. The evolution of sperm length in moths. Proceedings of the Royal Society series B 267, 307-313.

In the media

Our recent paper in JEB (Innocenti & Morrow, 2009) has been highlighted in....
The Scientist
Rated as "Recommended 3.0" by Silvia Remolina and Kim Hughes in the Faculty of 1000 Biology
The NewScientist
...and (if you understand Swedish) you can listen to an interview on Radio Uppland's "djurnyheter" 20-Feb-2009, or read a short article in Upsala Nya Tidning.

My work in the Rice lab was highlighted in the "Editor's choice" section of Science and rated as "Exceptional 9.0" by David Houle in the Faculty of 1000 Biology.

My research on bed bugs was also reviewed in...
The Scientist

Teaching

Insect biology and diversity (2006, 2007)
Lecture 1.pdf
Lecture 2.pdf

Ecology and Genetics (2007, 2008)
Recombination practical

Ethology Masters - Stockholm University 23rd Oct 2007
Sexual conflict.pdf

Ethology Masters - Stockholm University 7th Oct 2008
Stockholm Ethology Oct 2008.pdf

Ethology Masters - Stockholm University 6th Oct 2009
Stockholm Ethology Oct 2009.pdf