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- Penn, Dustin J.
Priv.-Doz. Dr. Dustin J. Penn
Research
My research is largely focused on sexual selection and communication, and I am particularly interested in complex courtship signals. I mainly work on house mice, though my students and I study a variety of species. I have broad interests in behavioral biology, evolutionary biology (including host-pathogen interactions), evolutionary genetics, and I am interested in integrating these areas with applied sciences, including medicine (‘Darwinian medicine’) and conservation biology.
Current projects
- Functions of major urinary proteins (MUPs) in chemical communication (Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) grant P24711-B21)
- Adaptive functions of ultrasonic vocalizations in male mice (Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) grant)
- Sounds and pheromones: neural networks merging olfactory and acoustic cues in sexual imprinting (grant funded by the Human Frontier Science Program, co-applicant, grant)
- Evolution of honest signalling (in collaboration with Szabolcs Számadó)
- Multiple male mating in house mice
- Pathogen-mediated sexual selection
- Voice Prints: Individual Signatures and Recognition in Mice (Austrian Science Foundation (FWF, Co-author, grant)
Lehre
Public outreach and education
I wrote a guide and a website about the Evolution/Creationism controversy for the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB), which is called 'Evolution Matters', and it is currently being translated into different languages.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
| 2004 | Habilitation (Post-Doctoral Thesis), Department of Zoology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria |
| 1997 | Ph.D., Biology, Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, Advisor: W.K. Potts |
| 1992 | M.S., Zoology, Department of Zoology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA, Advisor: H.J. Brockmann |
| 1988 | B.S., Biology, Department of Biology, University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma, USA |
Positions
| 2004-present | Adjunct Professor (Universitätsdozent), Faculty of Life Sciences, Center for Organismal Systems Biology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria | |
| 2011-present | Director (until 2014) and Senior Scientist, Konrad-Lorenz-Institute of Ethology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria | |
| 2002-2010 | Director and Senior Scientist, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria | |
| 2003-2004 | Visiting Professor, School of Biology, University of Newcastle, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK | |
| 1999-2002 | Assistant Research Professor, Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA | |
| 1998-1999 | Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA | |
| Editorships | ||
| 2013-present | Associate Editor: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | |
| Memberships | ||
| Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB) | ||
| European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) | ||
| International Society for Behavioral Ecology (ISBE) | ||
| Ethologische Gesellschaft | ||