UCL CoMPLEX

Location of Visit:

Mathematical Biology Laboratory, Department of Biology, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Kyushu Island, Japan

Purpose of Visit

Professor Yoh Iwasa is a world-renowned theoretical biologist, and worked along with my supervisor some years ago to develop a model for theoretically studying sexual selection using a quantitative genetics approach. It was therefore a great opportunity to be able to work in collaboration with him, attempting to extend this model to theoretically investigate the surprising phenotypic variation seen in a species of Central American poisonous frog, something that has been hypothesised to have been caused by sexual selection. Kyushu University is also one of Japan’s leading research universities, and the Mathematical Biology Research Laboratory is at the forefront of theoretical biological research in Asia. As such it was also useful to meet and work alongside the Japanese students in the laboratory.