Post-Docs & Lab Manager | Graduate Students |Lunch Friends| Lab Pets | Alumni
People in the Lab
 | John received a B.A. in Biology from Bucknell University in May 1996. He completed his Ph.D. in Biology at Duke University in 2001, working with Mark D. Rausher. His dissertation explored how the evolutionary dynamics of plant defense traits depended on variation in community composition. He then moved to Annie Schmitt's lab then at Brown University as a Post-Doctoral Researcher, studying how flowering time variation in Arabidopsis thaliana is influenced by climate and the functionality of candidate genes. In addition to these academic pursuits, John drinks inordinate amounts of coffee on a daily basis. He can also be found on Bluesky [@johnstinchcombe.bsky.social] or twitter [@John Stinchcombe]. |
Post-Doctoral Researchers and Lab Manager | |
 | Damian Hernandez Damian completed his PhD at the University of Miami with Stinchcombe Lab alum, Michelle Afkhami. Damian funded his own post-doc via NSF, obtaining a fellowship to work with us and Vasilis Kokkoris. He is studying how environmental stress reshapes the co-expression patterns of genetic networks in arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis. He has his own website . I stole this picture from it. |
 | Emily Glasgow Emily completed her MSc at the University of Guelph with Jocelyn Smith focusing on pheromone type genotyping and Cry1F resistance in the European corn borer. She joined the Wright, Stinchcombe, and Barrett labs as Lab Technician in January 2023. When not in role as Lab Czarina, she is an outstanding singer. |
Graduate Students | |
 | Meng Yuan Meng is a PhD student co-supervised by Stephen Wright. She did her undergrad at Sichuan University studying bioinformatics. She is interested in plant gametophytic selection and the evolution of sexual conflict. Meng is a plant nerd and enjoys plant photography but she's terrible at keeping house plants alive. email: my.yuan@mail.utoronto.ca website: https://imengyuan.github.io/ |
 | Amanda Peake Amanda grew up in Zambia, then came to UofT to do her undergrad. Despite the cold winters and lack of elephants in Toronto, she decided to stay to do her PhD in the Stinchcombe lab. She dragonboats and powerlifts in her spare time. Amanda is interested in studying the genetic basis of ecologically important traits. |
 | Katie Maunder Katie is a PhD student co-supervised by Megan Bontrager. They completed their undergrad at Queen’s University studying evolutionary biology and is interested in the forces behind phenotypic variation. Katie braves the streets of Toronto, biking to campus each day, and is currently making their way through a decade-old origami calendar. |
 | Martin Henry Martin is a MSc student in the lab. He is studying the potential genetic basis of a 5-lobed phenotype in the Ivyleaf morning glory, Ipomoea hederacea . Martin came to us from UBC, where he studied forestry. He is also interested in art, drawing, and music. |
Lunch, Coffee, and Happy Hour Associates (aka Lab Friends) | |
Lab Pets and Friends | |
 Newman, Lab Friend | Newman is named after the character on Seinfeld. He goes by the nicknames News, Newmie, and Newmie News. His interests include sleeping, chewing on his boney, and snuggling. He loves fighting the couch. You can follow his exploits on Instagram |
 Charli, John's favorite | Charli is Newman's half-sister. She sometimes goes by the nickname Charli-bear. She is retired breeding female, from Lasalle Bulldogs. She had 10 puppies before joining us. Her favorite activity is burrowing under a blanket to sleep. People believe that she's John's favorite, and has taken over the Instagram acccount @the._doggos, |