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Emilie Didaskalou

Research technician

Name
E.A. Didaskalou
Telephone
+31 71 527 5652
E-mail
e.a.didaskalou@cml.leidenuniv.nl

Emilie’s main interests lie within the fields of Molecular Ecology, Biodiversity Conservation & Evolutionary Ecology. She has worked as a technician at the department of Environmental Biology of CML since 2018 and in April 2022 she started working part-time as a PhD researcher focusing on the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a biomonitoring tool to assess population sex ratios.

More information about Emilie Didaskalou

Professional experience

Emilie graduated from the department of Biological Applications & Technologies, University of Ioannina (Greece) with a combined B.Sc. and M.Sc. degree specialized in Ecology & Evolution. Throughout her studies she volunteered at ARCHELON, the Sea Turtle Protection Society of Greece and helped in monitoring and safeguarding beaches as well as in public awareness. Her research projects as a student revolved around the ways organisms adapt in response to their environment, from the gene level up to their feeding behaviour.

For her master thesis at the University of Liege (Belgium) she studied the evolutionary process of paedomorphosis in palmate newts by focusing on the feeding ecology of the two alternative morphs. She then conducted an Erasmus+ traineeship at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre (Leiden, NL) where she studied the feeding habits of crested and marbled newts in their hybrid zone through DNA metabarcoding. After that, she was intrigued to know more about patterns of gene expression and how they ultimately affect a phenotype, so she did an additional internship at the Institute of Biology in Leiden University where she studied the physiological adaptations of bitterling embryos relating to their reproductive strategy.

In 2018 she started working as technician at the department of Environmental Biology at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) in Leiden University. Her duties included managing the lab facilities, training staff & students, assisting in lab practical’s as well as providing technical support in the lab and the field. The interdisciplinary environment at CML allowed her to work within a variety of fields such as ecotoxicology, soil ecology and remote sensing but she became keener on the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a biomonitoring tool for biodiversity conservation practices. She mainly focused on molecular techniques and set up the workflow, equipment and bioinformatic pipeline to perform NGS library preparations within the institute.

In April 2022, she started working part-time as a PhD researcher while continuing her technician work. As a part-time technician now, Emilie performs molecular analyses (extractions, ddPCR, metabarcoding) for external & internal parties or focuses on developing/optimising these methods further.

Research topic

For her PhD at CML, Emilie will focus on the use of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a biomonitoring tool to assess population sex ratios and the implications of sex ratio deviations on population sustainability.

For an overview of Emilie’s publications, you can follow this link.

 

Research technician

  • Science
  • Centrum voor Milieuwetenschappen Leiden
  • CML/Environmental Biology

Work address

Van Steenis
Einsteinweg 2
2333 CC Leiden
Room number B2.20

Contact

PhD candidate

  • Science
  • Centrum voor Milieuwetenschappen Leiden
  • CML/Environmental Biology

Work address

Van Steenis
Einsteinweg 2
2333 CC Leiden
Room number B2.20

Contact

Publications

No relevant ancillary activities

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