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Gert-Jan Jeunen image (2023)Contact details

Office 310 Castle Street, room 153
Email gert-jan.jeunen@otago.ac.nz

Academic qualifications

  • BSc Hasselt University (Belgium)
  • MSc Ghent University (Belgium); Université de Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC; France); Universidad de Oviedo (Spain)
  • PhD Otago University

Research interests

  • Environmental DNA metabarcoding
  • Historical and ancient DNA

Postgraduate students

  • Joseph Muldoon, MSc: Investigating the effects of historical spatial distributions of fish in the Indo-Pacific through eDNA obtained from museum-stored sponges
  • Ella Dewar, MSc: Genomic and transcriptomic analysis of New Zealand's freshwater Porifera
  • Taylor Allan, MSc: Uncovering nitrogen cycling processes in estuaries through eDNA metabarcoding
  • Jonika Edgecombe, PhD: Early detection of marine NIS through a novel molecular toolbox
  • Michelle Liddy, PhD: Marine sponges as natural eDNA accumulators
  • Ryan Easton, PhD: Investigating the impact of barriers on New Zealand's freshwater fish through electrofishing and eDNA analysis
  • Benjamin Duran-Vinet, PhD: CRISPR-Cas-based biomonitoring for marine environments

Publications

von Ammon, U., Jeunen, G.-J., Laroche, O., Pochon, X., Gemmell, N. J., Stanton, J.-A. L., & Zaiko, A. (2025). Investigating passive eDNA samplers and submergence times for marine surveillance. PeerJ, 13, e19043. doi: 10.7717/peerj.19043 Journal - Research Article

Scriver, M., Zaiko, A., Pochon, X., Stanton, J.-A. L., Belonovich, O., Jeunen, G.-J., … Gemmell, N. J., & von Ammon, U. (2025). Biodiversity monitoring in remote marine environments: Advancing environmental DNA/RNA sampling workflows. Marine Environmental Research, 206, 107041. doi: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2025.107041 Journal - Research Article

Kardailsky, A., Durán-Vinet, B., Nester, G., Ayad, M. E., Raes, E. J., Jeunen, G.-J., Miller, A. K., … Bayer, P. E. (2025). Monitoring the land and sea: Enhancing efficiency through CRISPR-Cas driven depletion and enrichment of environmental DNA. CRISPR Journal. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1089/crispr.2024.0050 Journal - Research Other

Dewar, E., Jeunen, G.-J., & Kenny, N. (2024, August). Under-appreciated and overlooked: Mapping the identity, molecular diversity and eDNA context of New Zealand's freshwater sponge species. Verbal presentation at the BMS Postgraduate Symposium, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Bennington, S. M., Bourke, S. D., Wilkinson, S. P., Englebert, N., Bond, D. M., Jeunen, G.-J., Dawson, S., Slooten, E., Dillingham, P. W., Rayment, W. J., & Alexander, A. (2024). New insights into the population structure of Hector's dolphin (Cephalorhynchus hectori) revealed using environmental DNA. Environmental DNA, 6, e70024. doi: 10.1002/edn3.70024 Journal - Research Article

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