Doctor Jennifer Morrow

Jen Morrow

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Dr Jennifer Morrow joined the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment (HIE) in May 2014 as a postdoctoral fellow in the Plants, Animals and Interactions theme. She has a particular interest in pest insects and in applying molecular biology tools to understand their biology and ecology and ultimately improve pest management strategies.

At HIE, Jennifer is working with Prof Markus Riegler on psyllids, of the genus Cardiaspina, which recently caused massive defoliation of Greybox eucalypts in Western Sydney.

This project has two primary goals: investigation of the population dynamics of this and other Cardiaspina species using microsatellites; and investigation of the important interactions of these psyllid species with microbial symbionts, with a focus on their obligate symbiont Carsonella, through whole-genome sequencing and transcriptomics.

Jennifer received her PhD at the HIE in 2014, under the supervision of Dr Markus Riegler (HIE), Dr Marianne Frommer (UNSW) and Dr Deborah Shearman (UNSW), researching true fruit fly species of the genus Bactrocera. Various approaches were taken, with the aim of developing improvements to the current repertoire of management strategies for these species, especially Australia's major horticultural pest, Bactrocera tryoni.

This included investigation of sex-determination genes through transcriptome analysis; and characterisation of naturally occurring bacterial symbionts, with particular attention on Wolbachia, a bacterium known for its ability to cause reproductive anomalies in the host.

Areas of Research

Insect molecular biology, developmental genetics, bioinformatics, insect symbionts

Awards and recognition