Amin Ghane
PhD student
phone:+43-1-4277-540 40
room: 209
I completed my undergraduate studies in Marine Biology and later pursued a master's degree in Marine Environment and Resources (MER+) through the Erasmus Mundus program in four European universities. For my master's thesis, I worked on the evolution of sex-associated genomic variation of Littorina saxatilis (rough periwinkle) at the University of Gothenburg with Roger Butlin and Kerstin Johannesson. Following this, I joined the Barton group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) as a scientific intern, continuing my MSc thesis project.
In September 2023 I joined the Plant Ecological Genomics group, and I embarked on my PhD on the role of structural variation in the adaptive radiation of the persimmon tree (Diospyros) in the New Caledonia archipelago. In this project, I am investigating the genomic architecture behind Diospyros' diversification and how genomic variation has driven the speciation, adaptation, and radiation of Diospyros.
Biographical information
since Sept 2023: PhD student, University of Vienna and Vienna Graduate School of Population Genetics, Austria. Project title: The role of structural variation in the adaptive radiation of persimmon trees (Diospyros) in New Caledonia.
2022-2023: scientific intern, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Vienna, Austria.
2020-2022: Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Marine Environment and Resources (MER+), University of Bordeaux (FR), University of the Basque Country (SP), University of Liège (BE), University of Gothenburg (SE). MSc thesis: "Sex-associated genomic variation in two ecotypes of Littorina saxatilis on the Swedish coast".
2015-2019: BSc. in Marine Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), Tehran, Iran.
Awards / Third-party funding
2026-2027: DOC Fellowship from the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
2022: Professor Michael B. Collins Award for the best MSc thesis presentation in Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters Degree of Marine Environment and Resources (MER+).
2020-2022: Fully funded EM+ Scholarship for an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree (EMJMD) in Marine Environment and Resources (MER+).
Publications
Reeve J, Ghane A, Barry P, Balmori-de la Puente A, Butlin RK, Choo LQ, Le Moan A, Castillo D G, Tamayo A-MP, Kingston S, Leder E, Stankowski S. 2023. A standard pipeline for processing short-reads sequencing data from Littorina snails. protocols.io.
Conference contributions
Ghane A, Khastgir TS, Emelianova K, Schmidt F, Bruy D, Robert V, Munzinger J, Paun O. 2025. Genomic drivers of persimmon adaptive radiation in New Caledonia, a biodiversity hotspot. ESEB 2025. Barcelona, Spain, 17–22 Aug 2025 [poster presentation].
Ghane A, Khastgir TS, Emelianova K, Turner B, Munzinger J, Paun O. 2024. LTR elements in New Caledonian persimmons’ adaptive radiation show a similar evolutionary history as SNPs with higher intra-specific variation. 3rd Joint Congress on Evolutionary Biology. Montreal, Canada, 26–30 Jul 2024 [poster presentation].
Ghane A, Johannesson K, Butlin R. 2022. Sex-associated genomic variation in two ecotypes of Littorina saxatilis on the Swedish West Coast. ESEB 2022. Prague, Czech Republic, 14-19 Aug 2022 [poster presentation].
Ghane A, Barton NH, Reeve J, Johannesson K, Butlin R, Westram A. 2023. Sex-linked genomic variation in various populations of Littorina saxatilis. ISOLBE XIII. Vila do Conde, Portugal, 24-27 July 2023 [oral presentation].