Biography

Jodi Thomas is a postdoctoral research officer in the Mental Health and Neuroscience Program at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. Her current research focuses on identifying and understanding genetic and environmental influences, and their interplay, on depression. Broadly, Jodi’s research centers on the intersection of neuroscience, behaviour and genetics, and she has a particular interest in the role of genetic and environmental factors on behaviour.

Jodi graduated as the most outstanding student in the Sciences Division from the University of Otago (New Zealand) with a BSc in Neuroscience and Zoology in 2015. In the following year she completed a BSc (Hons) in Neuroscience with the highest level of overall attainment in Neuroscience at the University of Otago. Her honours research, and following work as a research assistant, investigated the neuroendocrine regulatory and molecular mechanisms underlying socially-induced female to male sex change in fish. After receiving a highly competitive research scholarship from James Cook University, she moved to Australia to commence a PhD in 2018. Here, she used experimental and molecular techniques to investigate the neurobiological and behavioural effects of climate change on a squid, in collaboration with the Okinawa Institute for Science and Technology (Japan).

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