Bio: John Smout (PhD student)

John Smout is a PhD student funded through the University of Glasgow’s MVLS Doctoral Training Programme. His PhD project addresses the genetic and cellular basis of oviparity and viviparity using the common lizard, Zootoca vivipara, as a model for the transition between reproductive modes in squamates in other amniotes. John is co-supervised by Mark McLaughlin and Maureen Bain.

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My general research interests centre on the application of new technologies and new molecular biology techniques to address important questions in ecology and evolution. I first attended the University of Glasgow as an MSc student in 2017, completing a master’s project with Elmer Lab on field-based qPCR genotyping of common lizards (Zootoca vivipara) in summer 2018. In 2019 I was accepted to join the MVLS DTP and began work on culturing Z. vivipara primary oviduct cells for use in experiments on the genetics of reproductive mode in this species. 

My PhD project addresses the genetic and cellular basis of viviparity (live birth) and oviparity (egg laying) in lizards and other amniotes. The evolution of viviparity from oviparity represents a major innovation in amniote life history, but the cellular and molecular changes that underlie this transition are presently poorly understood. The majority of oviparity-viviparity transitions have occurred in squamate reptiles (snakes, lizards, and their relatives), more than in all other amniote lineages. Z. vivipara is highly unusual as this species is reproductively bimodal, with both oviparous and viviparous lineages, allowing for comparisons between oviparity and viviparity in otherwise genetically similar animals. My research exploits this remarkable model system to study the genetic and cellular foundations of this important evolutionary transition. 

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MSc Biotechnology (University of Glasgow, 2017-2018)
BSc Biology (University of York, 2009-2012)

University website at https://www.gla.ac.uk/pgrs/johnsmout/#d.en.753439

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