ane Younger is a molecular ecologist in the Marine Predator group at the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania. Her research is focused on developing cutting edge multi-omics approaches to monitor the complex impacts of climate change on Antarctic biodiversity. Younger’s National Geographic grant (awarded in 2019) supported an expedition to South Georgia, the Falkland Islands, and the Antarctic Peninsula to collect data on how climate change is affecting penguin populations, including how disease prevalence may be changing. Younger completed her Ph.D. at the University of Tasmania in Australia in 2015, before working as a research fellow at Oxford University (UK), a postdoc at Loyola University Chicago (U.S.), and a research group leader at the University of Bath (UK). Her pioneering research on Antarctic wildlife includes the ground-breaking discovery of three new species of gentoo penguin that revolutionized scientific understanding of penguin biodiversity and generated global media coverage. Younger is now using her expertise in genomics and bioinformatics to develop a pathogen surveillance network for Antarctic seabirds and seals, to monitor the threat of disease outbreaks as climate change progresses.
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