Royal Society University Research Fellow, Department of Zoology

Email: jag93@cam.ac.uk

Research interests

I am an evolutionary developmental biologist, and my research focuses on skeletal development in cartilaginous fishes (sharks, skates, rays and holocephalans). I am particularly interested in understanding the evolution of embryonic skeletal patterning mechanisms in jawed vertebrates, and the embryonic origins of jawed vertebrate skeletal tissues. I am also investigating the molecular and cellular basis of indefinite cartilage growth, homeostasis and repair in adult cartilaginous fishes. From October 2015, I will be the co-chair of the Cambridge Biotomography Centre.

Key publications

Gillis JA, Modrell MS, Baker CVH. (2013) Developmental evidence for serial homology of the vertebrate jaw and gill arch endoskeleton. Nat. Commun. 4: 1436.

Hall BK, Gillis JA (2013) Incremental evolution of the neural crest, neural crest cells, and neural crest-derived skeletal tissues. J. Anat. 222: 19-31.

Gillis JA, Rawlinson KA, Bell J, Lyon WS, Baker CVH, Shubin NH. (2011) Holocephalan embryos provide evidence for gill arch appendage reduction and opercular evolution in cartilaginous fishes. Proc. Nat’l Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 108: 1507-1512.

Gillis JA, Dahn RD, Shubin NH. (2009) Shared developmental mechanisms pattern the gill arch and paired fin skeletons in vertebrates. Proc. Nat’l Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106: 5720-5724.

Gillis JA, Dahn RD, Shubin NH. (2009) Chondrogenesis and homology of the visceral skeleton in the little skate, Leucoraja erinacea(Chondrichthyes: Batoidea). J. Morphol. 270: 628-643.

Areas of expertise

cartilage, evolution, development, cartilaginous fishes, immunohistochemistry, histology, mRNA in situ hybridisation, craniofacial development, neural crest