I am studying soil and leaf-litter biodiversity and how they vary across ecological gradients. I will apply High Throughput Sequencing, qPCR, and conventional taxonomy to answer these questions. I am co-advised by Dr. Alex Smith and Dr. Dirk Steinke from Integrative Biology, University of Guelph (UofG). I have a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the Republic University in Uruguay, with an emphasis on molecular phylogenetics. I completed my first M.Sc. in Zoology at Integrative Biology, studying whole genome duplications and phylogenetics in salmonid fish. I then worked for eight years at the Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (now Centre for Biodiversity Genomics), where I initially produced and then curated DNA barcodes of all taxonomic groups. I then completed a second M.Sc. at the School of Environmental Sciences at UofG, studying the relationship between above- and below-ground invertebrate biodiversity.
I volunteer at the Guelph Resource Centre for Gender Empowerment and Diversity (GRCGED), assisting in setting up and taking down displays and tables for events, both on- and off-campus, and general maintenance of the centre. I was in charge of the Office Compost Program at the School of Environmental Sciences, a Sustainability Ambassador at UofG, and I sit on the Board of Directors at my townhouse complex. In addition to my volunteer work roles, I am a regular blood donor at Guelph's Canadian Blood Services.
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Education
Master's degree – 2021. Title: “Soil Biodiversity Metabarcoding in a Newly Established Long-Term Mixed Species Cover Crop Trial”.
School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Master's Degree – 2008. Title: “The 4R Genome Duplication in Salmonine Fishes: Insights From Conserved Non-Coding Elements”.
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences, 2002
Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay.
Select Publications
Research articles
Telfer A, Young M, Quinn J, Perez K, Sobel C, Sones J, Levesque-Beaudin V, Derbyshire R, Fernandez- Triana J, Rougerie R, Thevanayagam A, Boskovic A, Borisenko A, Cadel A, Brown A, Pages A, Castillo AH, et al. 2015. Biodiversity inventories in high gear: DNA barcoding facilitates a rapid biotic survey of a temperate nature reserve. Biodiversity Data Journal 3: e6313. (link)
Castillo AH, Cortinas M. N., Lessa E. P. 2005. Rapid diversification of South American tuco-tucos (Ctenomys; Rodentia, Ctenomyidae): contrasting mitochondrial and nuclear intron sequences. Journal of Mammalogy 86: 170–179. (link)
Book chapters
Tosi M, Gaiero J, Linton N, Mafa-Attoye T, Castillo AH, Dunfield K, 2021. Bacterial Endophytes: Diversity, Functional Importance, and Potential for Manipulation, in: Gupta, V., Sharma, A. (Eds.), Rhizosphere Biology: Interactions with Plants. Springer, Singapore, 1–49. (link)
