Rita Isabel Ribeiro Miranda de Oliveira
PhD Student
My scientific interests are mainly related with conservation genetics of endangered species and populations and I am particularly interested on the development of novel molecular approaches to analyse and better explain historical and recent processes leading to the present status of a species/population.
In 2004/2005 I took a MSC in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources at Faculty of Sciences in Porto University, where I started my research focusing on the genetic structure of wild and domestic cat in Portugal and the detection and analysis of hybridisation between both subspecies. Recently, I applied to a FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) PhD grant, proposing an integrated approach combining novel molecular markers and non-invasive procedures for the analysis of Iberian wildcat populations, in order to assist wildcat conservation and management plans. I also aim to perform a detailed analysis of genetic and ecological variants and evolution patterns related with hybridisation between wild and domestic cat and provide new insights about phylogenetic relationships among wildcat subspecies and the potential reconstruction of cat domestication events.