The general research interest within my group is to investigate how environmental exposures of a variety of sources (nutrition, contaminants, stress) interfere with developmental and epigenetic mechanisms, and can consequently be involved in phenotypic and epigenetic variation later in life. Additionally, we are interested in how environmental exposures can induce epigenetic modifications in the germ line, as well as the ability of these to be transmitted transgenerationally and influence genetic variability in subsequent generations. From the latter, a strong interest is also about the role of environmentally induced epigenetic mechanisms in evolutionary processes. We have also recently gotten involved with mitochondrial research, particularly the ability of mitochondrial function and epigenome to respond to environmental insults.

My research interests regard metabolism and biomechanics. Specifically, I am using a combination of molecular, physiological and biomechanical techniques to understand the physiological and morphological constraints acting on species and how these influence adaptation, behaviour and responses to environmental stressors. Although my work focuses primarily on birds, I seek to discover rules that are more broadly applicable.

I am interested in investigating epigenetic and transcriptomic changes occurring in multiple regions of the brain, as well as other organs associated with stress response, during development. My Ph.D. project is a part of the GEroNIMO consortium and revolves around assessing DNA methylation footprints of environmental stimuli in relation to chicken welfare and pig reproductive traits, using the GBS-MeDIP method.