My main research interest lies in the evolution and natural variation in the insect immune system. During my PhD I used a wide variety of genomic data and phenotypic measurements to characterise the immune system of the Pieris napi butterfly, and investigated its remarkable variation across populations. Currently I am a postdoc of the Beenatural project, wherein I will investigate and characterise the phenotypic and genomic mechanisms of naturally adapted mite resistance in the honeybee.
Keehnen, Naomi LP; Kučerová, Lucie; Nylin, Sören; Theopold, Ulrich; Wheat, Christopher W. (2021) Physiological Tradeoffs of Immune Response Differs by Infection Type in Pieris napi,Frontiers in physiology,11,,1832, Frontiers
Keehnen, Naomi LP; Fors, Lisa; Järver, Peter; Spetz, Anna-Lena; Nylin, Sören; Theopold, Ulrich; Wheat, Christopher W. (2021) A Population Genomic Investigation of Immune Cell Diversity and Phagocytic Capacity in a Butterfly,Genes,12,2,279, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Audusseau, Hélène; Baudrin, Gaspard; Shaw, Mark R; Keehnen, Naomi LP; Schmucki, Reto; Dupont, Lise; (2020),"Ecology and genetic structure of the parasitoid Phobocampe confusa (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae) in relation to its hosts, Aglais species (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae)",Insects,11,8,478, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute
Hill J, Rastas P, Hornett EA, Neethiraj R, Clark N, Morehouse N, de la Paz Celorio-Mancera M, Cols JC, Dircksen H, Meslin C, Keehnen N, Pruisscher P, Sikkink K, Vives M, Vogel H, Wiklund C, Woronik A, Boggs CL, Nylin S, Wheat CW. (2019) Unprecedented reorganization of holocentric chromosomes provides insights into the enigma of lepidopteran chromosome evolution. Sci Adv. Jun 12;5(6):eaau3648.
Keehnen, Naomi LP; Hill, Jason; Nylin, Sören; Wheat, Christopher W (2018) ,"Microevolutionary selection dynamics acting on immune genes of the green‐veined white butterfly, Pieris napi", Molecular ecology,27,13,2807-2822.
Keehnen, Naomi LP; Rolff, Jens; Theopold, Ulrich; Wheat, Christopher W; (2017) "Insect antimicrobial defences: a brief history, recent findings, biases, and a way forward in evolutionary studies",Advances in insect physiology,52,,1-33, Academic Press
Stervander, Martin; Illera, Juan Carlos; Kvist, Laura; Barbosa, Pedro; Keehnen, Naomi P; Pruisscher, Peter; Bensch, Staffan; Hansson, Bengt; (2015) Disentangling the complex evolutionary history of the Western Palearctic blue tits (Cyanistes spp.)–phylogenomic analyses suggest radiation by multiple colonization events and subsequent isolation,Molecular Ecology,24,10,2477-2494.