Cunningham CV 2016

CV: John A. Cunningham

School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Life Science Building, Bristol, U.K. BS8 1TQ [email protected]

Education

Ph.D. in Palaeobiology (NERC Studentship) University of Liverpool (2005-2008) The evolution of developmental strategy in Cretaceous spatangoid echinoids

M.Sc. in Palaeobiology with distinction University of Bristol (2001-2002)

B.Sc. (hons) Geology 2.1 University of Edinburgh (1996-2000)

Research positions

NERC Postdoctoral Fellow University of Bristol (2012-) Understanding the fossil evidence for major evolutionary transitions

NordCEE Researcher Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History (2014-2016) The evolution of multicellularity

NERC Research Associate University of Bristol (2011-2012) Teeth and jaws: evolutionary emergence of a model organogenic system

NERC Research Associate University of Bristol (2008-2011) Decoding the fossil record of embryology at the dawn of animal evolution

NERC Research Assistant University of Bristol (2004-2005) The development and evolution of early metazoans

Awards and grants

NERC Public Engagement Resource Development Fund (2013)

NERC Postdoctoral Fellowship (2012)

Nuffield Undergraduate Research Bursary (2010)

Palaeontological Association travel grant (2007)

Palaeontological Association Sylvester Bradley Award (2002)

Swiss Light Source: Long-term beam allocation (several applications as CoI)

1 Academic activities

Publications and presentations: Publish regularly in top international journals including Science, Nature and Proceedings B; research presentations at numerous international conferences (please see complete listing below).

Seminar organization: Organized the Palaeobiology Discussion Group in Bristol and the Palaeobiology Seminar Series in Stockholm.

Community activities: reviewing for various journals including Biology Letters, BMC Evolutionary Biology, Geology, Geobiology, Palaeontology, Palaeoworld; judge for Palaeontological Association Council Poster Prize

Teaching experience

University teaching Lectures: Evolution of Earth and Life, Current Controversies in Palaeobiology, Research Methods in Palaeobiology, Frontiers of Earth Sciences Practical Classes: Various classes from Level 1 to M Level Field classes: Advanced Field Techniques (Donegal), Applied Basin Analysis (Dorset)

Other teaching experience Field Studies and I.T. Instructor, 3D Education and Adventure, Dorset English as a Foreign Language Teacher, Messolonghi, Greece

Student supervision

Amy Ball (2014) M.Sc. student co-supervised with Dani Schmidt An X-ray examination of loss of morphological diversity during mass extinctions

Holly Betts (2013) University of Bristol summer project student Fossil preservation in the early Cambrian Kuanchuanpu biota

Ian Fletcher (2010) Nuffield Undergraduate Research Bursary student Using experimental decay of the alga Volvox to decode the controversial Precambrian microfossil record

Aodhán Butler (2009) M.Sc. student co-supervised with Phil Donoghue Experimental taphonomy of Artemia: analysing microbial controls on the preservation of soft tissue

Public engagement in science

Invited public lectures: Bristol Naturalists, Bath Geological Society, Manchester Geological Association

Popular articles: Palaeontology [online]; Palaeontology Newsletter

Outreach website: www.virtualfossils.com (with Imran Rahman)

Scientific advice for BBC television documentaries: What Darwin didn’t know (2009), Attenborough’s First Life (2010)

Media appearances: BBC national and world service radio interviews, podcasts

Complete publication list: John A. Cunningham

Peer reviewed papers

Dong, X.-P., Vargas, K., Cunningham, J. A., Zhang, H., Liu, T., Chen, F., Liu, J., Bengtson, S. & Donoghue, P. C. J. In press. Developmental biology of the early Cambrian cnidarian Olivooides. Palaeontology.

Cunningham, J. A., Vargas, K., Liu, P., Belivanova, V., Marone, F., Martínez-Perez, C., Guizar-Sicairos, M., Holler, M., Bengtson, S. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2015. Critical appraisal of tubular putative eumetazoans from the Ediacaran Weng’an Doushantuo biota. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B: Biological Sciences 82: 20151169.

Butler, A. D., Cunningham, J. A., Budd. G. E. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2015. Experimental taphonomy of Artemia reveals the role of endogenous microbes in mediating decay and fossilization. Proceedings of the Royal Society Series B: Biological Sciences 82: 20150476.

Fothergill, J., Li, M., Davis, S., Cunningham, J. A. and Mann, S. 2014. Nanoparticle-based membrane assembly and silicification in coacervate micro-droplets as a route to complex colloidosomes. Langmuir 30: 14591–14596.

Cunningham, J. A., Donoghue, P. C. J., & Bengtson, S. 2014. Distinguishing biology from geology in soft-tissue preservation. Paleontological Society Papers 20: 275-287.

Cunningham, J. A., Rahman, I. A., Lautenschlager, S., Rayfield, E. J. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2014. A virtual world of paleontology. Trends in ecology and evolution 29: 347-357.

Rücklin, M., Donoghue, P. C. J., Cunningham, J. A., Marone, F. & Stampanoni, M. 2014. Developmental paleobiology of the vertebrate skeleton. Journal of Paleontology 88: 676- 683.

Dong, X.-P., Cunningham, J. A., Bengtson, S., Thomas, C.-W., Liu, J.-B., Stampanoni, M. and Donoghue, P. C. J. 2013. Embryos, polyps and medusae of the early Cambrian scyphozoan Olivooides. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series B: Biological Sciences 280: 20130071.

Bengtson, S., Cunningham, J. A., Yin, C. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2012. A merciful death for the ‘earliest bilaterian’, Vernanimalcula. Evolution & Development 14: 421-427.

Cunningham, J. A., Rücklin, M., Blom, H., Botella, H. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2012. Testing models of dental development in the earliest bony vertebrates, Andreolepis and Lophosteus. Biology Letters 8: 833-837.

Huldtgren, T., Cunningham, J. A., Yin, C., Stampanoni, M., Marone, F., Donoghue P. C. J. & Bengtson, S. 2012. Response to comment on ‘Fossilized nuclei and germination structures identify Ediacaran ‘animal embryos’ as encysting protists’. Science 335: 1169.

Cunningham, J. A., Thomas, C.-W., Bengtson, S., Kearns, S. L., Xiao, S., Marone, F., Stampanoni, M. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2012. Distinguishing geology from biology in the Ediacaran Doushantuo biota constrains the timing of the origin of bilaterians. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series B: Biological Sciences 279: 2369-2376.

Cunningham, J. A., Thomas, C.-W., Bengtson, S., Marone, F., Stampanoni, M., Turner, F. R., Bailey, J. V., Raff, R. A., Raff, E. C. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2012. Experimental taphonomy of giant sulphur bacteria: implications for the interpretation of the embryo-like Ediacaran Doushantuo fossils. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, Series B: Biological Sciences 279: 1857-1864.

Huldtgren, T., Cunningham, J. A., Yin, C., Stampanoni, M., Marone, F., Donoghue P. C. J. & Bengtson, S. 2011. Fossilized nuclei and germination structures identify Ediacaran ‘animal embryos’ as encysting protists. Science 334: 1696-1699.

Dong, X.-P., Bengtson, S., Gostling, N. J., Cunningham, J. A., Harvey, T. H. P., Kouchinsky, A., Val'kov, A. K., Repetski, J. E., Stampanoni, M. & Donoghue, P. C. J. 2010. The anatomy, taphonomy, taxonomy and systematic affinity of Markuelia: Early Cambrian to Early Ordovician scalidophorans. Palaeontology 53: 1291-1314.

Cunningham, J. A. & Jeffery Abt, C. H. 2009. Coordiated shifts to non-planktotrophic development in spatangoid echinoids during the Late Cretaceous. Biology Letters 5: 647- 650.

Cunningham, J. A., Hof, C. H. J. & Braddy, S. J. 2008. Lenisquilla californiensis, a new species of stomatopod crustacean. Journal of Paleontology 82: 431-435.

Donoghue, P. C. J., Bengtson, S., Dong, X. P., Gostling, N. J., Huldtgren, T., Cunningham, J. A., Yin, C., Yue, Z., Peng, F. & Stampanoni, M. 2006. Synchrotron X-ray tomographic microscopy of fossil embryos. Nature 442: 680-683.

Donoghue, P. C. J., Kouchinsky, A., Waloszek, D., Bengtson, S., Dong, X.-P., Val’kov, A. K., Cunningham, J. A. & Repetski, J. E. 2006. Fossil embryos are widespread but the record is temporally and taxonomically biased. Evolution & Development 8: 232-238.

Dong, X., Donoghue, P. C. J., Cunningham, J. A., Liu, J. & Cheng, H. 2005. The anatomy, affinity and phylogenetic significance of Markuelia. Evolution & Development 7: 468-482.

Book chapter

Donoghue, P. C. J., Cunningham, J. A., Dong, X.-P. and Bengtson, S. 2015. Embryology in deep time. In: Wanninger, A. (ed) Evolutionary Developmental Biology of Invertebrates. Springer Verlag. Vol. 1, p. 45- 63.