Dr Joanna Miest-Bray

I joined CCCU in 2023 as a Senior Lecturer in Animal Science.

Since my early childhood I always wanted to understand how animals work and function and why. After studying Biology at the University of Freiburg in Germany and specialising in Animal Physiology I conducted my Diplom thesis on the cellular temperature physiology of cod at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar Research. During this project I discovered my passion for working with aquatic animals and understanding their physiological responses to environmental changes. My PhD thesis took me to Keele University in the UK where I worked within a large EU funded Initial Training Network to investigate cellular and molecular responses of common carp to immunostimulation using beta-glucan. After receiving my PhD in 2012 I moved to Kiel in Germany to work as a Postdoc for Aquaculture Research at the Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research (GEOMAR). This 3 year project focussed on health and welfare in marine aquaculture. Afterwards, I once more moved to the UK to become a lecturer for Bioscience at the University of Greenwich, where I also obtained my PGCert in HE and after 6 years joined CCCU in my current position as animal science lecturer.

As lecturer in the Section of Natural and Applied Sciences I am leader for several undergraduate modules and teach on a variety of topics related to animal science.

I have taught students from Foundation to Master level in general biology, immunology and genetics. In my current role I lead and teach on the following modules: Animal Anatomy and Physiology Animal Pest and Diseases Animal Reproduction and Development  I am also supervising undergraduate projects and act as personal tutor for students. 

I am particularly interested how climate change will affect the physiology, health, and immunology of aquatic animals. Since my Diplom thesis I have worked with various species of freshwater and marine fish. I have experience in analysing immunity and physiology on various organisation levels and use molecular and immunological tools to understand how temperature and other environmental factors influence them. I am interested in the interaction of pathogens, hosts, and environments in the wild and aquaculture settings. Recently I have started to work with oysters to investigate aspects of disease transmission under different climate change scenarios.  I am passionate about supporting young and new researchers to build their careers and thus was involved in building up the Early Career Research network for the Faculty of Engineering and Science and the University of Greenwich. I have acted as internal examiner for MRes, MPhil and PhD vivas. If you are interested to work with me, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

I have been acting as independent expert in grant reviews for various national and international funding agencies. I love working with colleagues from other Universities and countries and have collaborated with researchers from various national and international institutes (e.g. Denmark, Norway, Canada, Germany).