ELLEN O. MARTINSON LAB
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Ellen O. Martinson
Assistant Professor
[email protected]

@wasp_venom

PhD, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, 2012
Postdoc, University of Rochester, 2013-2017
Postdoc, University of Georgia, 2017-2019
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Quin Baine
PhD Candidate
[email protected]


I joined the lab in 2020 with a background in ecology and agricultural entomology. As a graduate student, I am an NSF NRT Museum Research Trainee and a Harry Wayne Springfield Graduate Fellow in Plant Ecology. My research is focused on the communities of galling insects and how the ecological interactions between host plant, galling herbivore, and arthropod associates influence their collective evolutionary history. I employ taxonomic description, molecular phylogeny, population genomics, and ecological statistics methodologies to examine these communities in a study system of Aciurina (Tephritidae) galling flies on Ericameria nauseosa (Asteraceae) in the Intermountain West. My other interests and involvements include biogeography, pollinator ecology, wildlife conservation, and natural history museum collection management.


Shannon Rollins
PhD Student
[email protected]


I joined the Martinson lab in August 2023 with a background in insect molecular phylogenetics, taxonomy and ecology. I am interested in the evolutionary arms race between parasitoid wasps and their hosts and the ecology and evolution of gall communities. I am also interested in insect-focused science communication.



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Adam Kranz
PhD Student
[email protected]


I joined the Martinson lab as a PhD student in fall 2024. Before joining the lab, I co-founded Gallformers.org, a website dedicated to facilitating amateur and scientific study of gall inducing organisms. My research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of gall induction in the oak gall wasps (Cynipini), using transcriptomics to identify both wasp effector molecules and the plant developmental pathways they alter to induce a species-specific gall. I also have ongoing partnerships with ecologists and taxonomists working to complete our understanding of the life histories, phylogenetics, and ecological interactions of the North American Cynipini.
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Past Lab Members:
Emi Casares
Sorrel Tran



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  • Research
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