Polyploidy, Plethodontidae, and Python

Hello! My name is Alex Stewart. I'm a herpetologist, bioinformatician, and evolutionary biologist studying salamanders in the family Plethodontidae. 

I'm currently a first-year PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona. I've been conducting scientific research across the tree of life for almost six years and have settled into the niche of working with salamanders and their massive genomes. I am particularly interested in the maintenance of the ancient polyploid unisexual Ambystoma complex, the retention of an A. laterale subgenome when some unisexual populations haven't been in contact with sexual A. laterale for thousands of years, and the wildly variable genome sizes in the family Plethodontidae.

While lots of the work I do is bioinformatics focused, I pride myself on getting out in the field and working at the bench, too! If you're interested in what I do, check out the 'Research' tab! If you'd like to see all my publications (with PDFs), the 'Publications' tab is the place to be. The 'Photography' tab contains my amateur wildlife photography. My slightly less amateur code can be found here. If you want to get in touch, don't hesitate to reach out using the resources in the 'Contact' tab. 

Cheers!