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  5. Dr Shea Slater

Dr Shea Slater

I support researchers and enterprise by providing expertise in advanced imaging, spectroscopy and sample preparation, including SEM, μFTIR, light and fluorescence microscopy, and ultramicrotomy. I work with users across disciplines to develop analytical approaches and sample preparation methods as well as interpret imaging and spectroscopic data.
My personal research interests lie in the preservation of biological materials through time. Combining palaeontology, biology and taphonomy, I investigate the processes that influence the preservation and alteration of soft tissues and their biomolecules. My work focuses on the molecular preservation in fossil feathers and degradation in spirit-preserved natural history collections.
I am especially excited by interdisciplinary collaborations that combine analytical techniques with biological, palaeontological and heritage science questions, and by projects that help safeguard natural science collections for future biodiversity and evolutionary research.

Publications

  • Slater, T.S., Ito, S., Wakamatsu, K., Zhang, F., Sjövall, P., Jarenmark, M., Lindgren, J., McNamara, M.E., 2023. Taphonomic experiments reveal authentic molecular signals for fossil melanins and verify preservation of phaeomelanin in fossils. Nature Communications, 14, 5651. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40570-w.

  • Slater, T.S., Edwards, N.P., Webb, S.M., Zhang, F., McNamara, M.E., 2023. Preservation of corneous β-proteins in Mesozoic feathers. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 7, 1706-1713. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02177-8.

  • McNamara, M.E., Rossi, V., Slater, T.S., Rogers, C.S., Ducrest, A.-L., Dubey, S., Roulin, A., 2021. Decoding the Evolution of Melanin in Vertebrates. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 36, 430-443. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2020.12.012.

  • Slater, T., Ashbrook, K., Kriwet, J., 2020. Evolutionary relationships among bullhead sharks (Chondrichthyes, Heterodontiformes). Papers in Palaeontology, 6, 425-437. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1299.

  • Slater, T.S., McNamara, M.E., Orr, P.J., Foley, T.B., Ito, S., Wakamatsu, K., 2019. Taphonomic experiments resolve controls on the preservation of melanosomes and keratinous tissues in feathers. Palaeontology, 63, 103-115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/pala.12445.

  • Slater, T., Duffin, C.J., Hildebrandt, C., Davies, T.G., Benton, M.J., 2016. Microvertebrates from multiple bone beds in the Rhaetian of the M4-M5 motorway junction, South Gloucestershire, U.K. Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association, 127, 464–477. DOI: 1016/j.pgeola.2016.07.001.

Biography

  • August 2026 - present: Experimental Officer at Mary Ward Laboratory, University College Cork, Ireland.

  • July 2022 – July 2026: ERC Postdoctoral researcher at University College Cork, Ireland.

  • July 2017 – June 2022: PhD (Geology) at University College Cork, Ireland. PhD thesis: “Taphonomy of Feathers”.

  • June 2016 – July 2016: Visiting researcher at the University of Vienna, Austria.

  • May 2015 – July 2015: Visiting researcher at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom.

  • September 2014 – May 2017: BSc (Hons) 1st class in Biology at the University of Worcester, United Kingdom. BSc Thesis: “Sharks with question marks: Examining the intrarelationships of bullhead sharks (Chondrichthyes: Heterodontiformes)”.

  • December 2013 – May 2014: Undergraduate researcher at the University of Cincinnati, USA.

Maria McNamara Research Group

Experimental and analytical taphonomy

Contact us

School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES), University College Cork (UCC), Butler Building, Distillery Fields, North Mall, Cork, T23 TK30, Ireland

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