Rebecca Batstone
Assistant Professor, Biology

Dr. Rebecca Batstone is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at McMaster University. Prior to McMaster, Dr. Batstone won a competitive Postdoctoral Fellowship through the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where she collaborated with researchers in the Infection Genomics for One Health theme. Dr. Batstone completed her PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto, and both her Bachelor’s (Honours) and Masters at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Dr. Batstone’s work on the evolution of mutualism, or beneficial interactions among unrelated species, and the powerful approaches she has developed, including experimental evolution coupled with whole genome sequencing and bioinformatics has received international recognition. Most recently, Dr. Batstone won two prominent early career awards including New Phytologist’s Tansley Medal and The American Society of Naturalist’s Jasper Loftus-Hills Young Investigator Award.

Dr. Batstone’s work is often cited and has resulted in high-impact publications in journals including Science, Ecology, and New Phytologist.