Affiliation: Associate Professor at the Department of Zoology at Stockholm University, Sweden
Keywords: Evolution, Genomics, Biodiversity, Environmental Change, Yeast
Webpage: www.stelkenslab.com
ORCID: 0000-0002-8530-0656
Rike Stelkens is an Associate Professor at the Department of Zoology at Stockholm University, Sweden. She is an evolutionary biologist interested in the selective and stochastic evolutionary forces generating biodiversity. Rike’s group uses the model system yeast Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces) and a combination of experimental evolution and genome sequencing. Her research seeks to understand the effects and risks of environmental change for populations with different prerequisites, e.g. populations that differ in size, in genetic variation, the type of selection they experience, their connectivity to other populations, and their ability to compensate stressful conditions through phenotypic responses. All these factors potentially alter the rates and mechanisms of adaptation and therefore the persistence and survival of populations in the wild. Rike’s research program aims to provide a comprehensive view of how these factors operate and interact to allow (and restrict) evolutionary adaptation.
Rike has received prestigious grants, fellowships and awards throughout her career, including a MarieSkłodowska-Curie Fellowship from the European Union, a Starting Grant form the Swedish Research Council, and a Knut and Alice Wallenberg Fellowship. Rike has presented her research at many international and national conferences resulting in a vibrant network of international collaborators. Rike has has been serving as editorial board members for two scientific journals, she is a member of the Swedish Society for Microbiology, and she has been a review panelist for the Swedish Research Council for Natural and Engineering Sciences.