• 2015-2017       postdoc University of Maryland, USA (Jeffery lab)
• 2007-2013       PhD, Biology, Ruđer Bošković Institute, University of Osijek, Croatia
• 1999-2005       BSc, Biology - Ecology, University of Zagreb, Croatia

• 2019–2024: TTPP grant: Evolution in the dark. PI. Total amount granted: ~ 1,000,000 EUR.
• 2014–2017: NEWFELPRO postdoctoral grant: Evolution of albinism in cave-adapted animals. PI. Total amount granted ~ 118,000 EUR.
• 2015–2019: HRZZ grant "Elucidating animal development, differentiation and evolution through basal metazoan genomics". collaborator, (PI: dr.sc. Kristian Vlahoviček, dr.sc. Helena Ćetković)
• 2007–2013: Ministry of Science, Technology and Sports, Republic of Croatia grant "Genes and genomes: structure, function and evolution". Collaborator, (PI: dr.sc. Helena Ćetković)

• 2014 – 2017 University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA. Postdoctoral fellowship NEWFELPRO; funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Marie Curie FP7-PEOPLE-2011-COFUND and the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education
• 2014. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany. EMBO Short Term Fellowship
• 2014. Embryology course at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA. The Company of Biologists Ltd Scholarship
• 2013. „For women in science“ L'Oréal-UNESCO fellowship
• 2012. Best poster at the 21st International Conference on Subterranean Biology

• Bilandžija H, Abraham L, Ma L, Renner KJ, Jeffery WR (2018) Behavioural changes controlled by catecholaminergic systems explain recurrent loss of pigmentation in cavefish. Proceedings of The Royal Society of London series B-Biological sciences. 285/1878. (Recommended by Faculty of 1000)
• Bilandžija H, Laslo M, Porter ML, Fong DW (2017) Melanization in response to wounding is ancestral in arthropods and conserved in albino cave species. Scientific Reports. 7/17148.
• Bilandžija H, Ma L, Parkhurst A, Jeffery WR. (2013) A potenial benefit of albinism in Astyanax cavefish: Downregulation of the oca2 gene increases tyrosine and catecholamine levels as an alternative to melanin synthesis. PLoS ONE, 8/11: e80823.
• Bilandžija H, Ćetković H, Jeffery W R (2012) Evolution of albinism in cave planthoppers by a convergent defect in the first step of melanin biosynthesis. Evolution & development. 14/2: 196-203.

Books and book chapters

Authored books

• Jalžić, B., Čuković Malenica, T., Mihoci, T., Bedek, J., Bilandžija, H., Bregović, P., Dražina, T., Jalžić, V., Komerički, A., Kovač Konrad, P., Kutleša, P., Lukić, M., Malenica Čepelak, M., Miculinić, K., Pavlek, M., Perkić, D. & Sudar, V. (2021) Caves of the island Mljet in pictures and words. Zagreb, Nacionalni park Mljet ; Hrvatsko biospeleološko društvo.

• Bedek, J., Bilandžija, H., Hamidović, D., Cvitanović, H., Dražina, T., Jalžić, B., Jalžić, V., Kovač Konrad, P., Lukić, M., Miculinić, K., Ozimec, R. & Pavleka Martina (2009) World Under World: Cave Fauna Biodiversity in Ogulin and Kamanje – Globally Important Subterranean Heritage Hidden in Karlovac County. Zagreb, Hrvatsko biospeleološko društvo.

• Ozimec, R., Bedek, J., Gottstein, S., Jalžić, B., Slapnik, R., Štamol, V., Bilandžija, H., Dražina, T., Kletečki, E., Komerički, A., Lukić, M. & Pavlek, M. (2009) Red book of Croatian cave dwelling fauna. Zagreb, Ministarstvo kulture i medija Republike Hrvatske ; Državni zavod za zaštitu prirode.

Books and book chapters

Book chapters

• Jeffery, W., Ma, L., Parkhurst, A. & Bilandžija, H. (2014) Pigment Regression and Albinism in Astyanax Cavefish. U: Keene, A., Yoshizawa, M. & McGaugh, S. (ur.) Biology and Evolution of the Mexican Cavefish., Elsevier, str. 155-173.

Journal articles

Scientific and review papers

• Lunghi, E. & Bilandžija, H. (2022) Longevity in Cave Animals. Frontiers in ecology and evolution, 10, 874123, 7 doi:10.3389/fevo.2022.874123.

  doiwww.frontiersin.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Jalžić, B., Cukrov, M. & Bilandžija, H. (2021) Distribution of the cave tube worm Marifugia cavatica Absolon & Hrabe, 1930 in Croatia. Subterranea Croatica, 19, 38-46.

  hrcak.srce.hr

• Mammola, S., Lunghi, E., Bilandžija, H., Cardoso, P., Grimm, V., Schmidt, S., Hesselberg, T. & Martínez, A. (2021) Collecting eco‐evolutionary data in the dark: Impediments to subterranean research and how to overcome them. Ecology and evolution, 11 (11), 5911-5926 doi:10.1002/ece3.7556.

  doidoi.orgonlinelibrary.wiley.comfulir.irb.hr

• O’Gorman, M., Thakur, S., Imrie, G., Moran, R., Choy, S., Sifuentes-Romero, I., Bilandžija, H., Renner, K., Duboué, E., Rohner, N., McGaugh, S., Keene, A. & Kowalko, J. (2021) Pleiotropic function of the oca2 gene underlies the evolution of sleep loss and albinism in cavefish. Current biology, 31 (16), 3694-3701 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.077.

  doi

• Bilandžija, H., Hollifield, B., Steck, M., Meng, G., Ng, M., Koch, A., Gračan, R., Ćetković, H., Porter, M., Renner, K. & Jeffery, W. (2020) Phenotypic plasticity as a mechanism of cave colonization and adaptation. eLife, 9 (e51830), e51830, 27 doi:10.7554/elife.51830.

  doielifesciences.orgdoi.orgfulir.irb.hr

• Bedek, J., Taiti, S., Bilandžija, H., Ristori, E. & Baratti, M. (2019) Molecular and taxonomic analyses in troglobiotic Alpioniscus (Illyrionethes) species from the Dinaric Karst (Isopoda: Trichoniscidae). Zoological journal of the linnean society, 187 (3), 539-584 doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlz056.

  doi

• Herman, A., Brandvain, Y., Weagley, J., Jeffery, W., Keene, A., Kono, T., Bilandžija, H., Borowsky, R., Espinasa, L., O'Quin, K., Ornelas-García, C., Yoshizawa, M., Carlson, B., Maldonado, E., Gross, J., Cartwright, R., Rohner, N., Warren, W. & McGaugh, S. (2018) The role of gene flow in rapid and repeated evolution of cave-related traits in Mexican tetra, Astyanax mexicanus. Molecular Ecology, 27 (22), 4397-4416 doi:10.1111/mec.14877.

  doi

• Bilandžija, H., Abraham, L., Ma, L., Renner, K. & Jeffery, W. (2018) Behavioural changes controlled by catecholaminergic systems explain recurrent loss of pigmentation in cavefish. Proceedings of the royal society of london series b-biological sciences, 285 (1878), 20180243, 10 doi:10.1098/rspb.2018.0243.

  doi

• Ćetković, H., Herak Bosnar, M., Perina, D., Mikoč, A., Deželjin, M., Belužić, R., Bilandžija, H., Ruiz-Trillo, I. & Harcet, M. (2018) Characterization of a Group I Nme protein of Capsaspora owczarzaki – a close unicellular relative of animals. Laboratory investigation, 98 (3), 304-314 doi:10.1038/labinvest.2017.134.

  doi

• Bilandžija, H., Laslo, M., Porter, M. & Fong, D. (2017) Melanization in response to wounding is ancestral in arthropods and conserved in albino cave species. Scientific Reports, 7, 17148, 11 doi:10.1038/s41598-017-17471-2.

  doifulir.irb.hr

• Jovanović Glavaš, O., Jalžić, B. & Bilandžija, H. (2017) Population density, habitat dynamic and aerial survival of relict cave bivalves from genus Congeria in the Dinaric karst. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPELEOLOGY, 46 (1), 13-22 doi:10.5038/1827-806X.46.1.2020.

  doi

• Bilandžija, H., Ma, L., Parkhurst, A. & Jeffery, W. (2013) A Potenial Benefit of Albinism in Astyanax Cavefish: Downregulation of the oca2 Gene Increases Tyrosine and Catecholamine Levels as an Alternative to Melanin Synthesis. PLoS ONE, 8 (11), e80823-e80823 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0080823.

  doifulir.irb.hr

• Bilandžija, H., Morton, B., Podnar, M. & Ćetković, H. (2013) Evolutionary history of relict Congeria (Bivalvia: Dreissenidae) : unearthing the subterranean biodiversity of the Dinaric Karst. Frontiers in Zoology, 10 (5), 1-17 doi:10.1186/1742-9994-10-5.

  doi

• Bilandžija, H., Ćetković, H. & Jeffery, W. (2012) Evolution of albinism in cave planthoppers by a convergent defect in the first step of melanin biosynthesis. Evolution & development, 14 (2), 196-203 doi:10.1111/j.1525-142X.2012.00535.x.

  doi

• Pleše, B., Lukić-Bilela, L., Bruvo- Mađarić, B., Harcet, M., Imešek, M., Bilandžija, H. & Ćetković, H. (2012) The mitochondrial genome of stygobitic sponge Eunapius subterraneus: mtDNA is highly conserved in freshwater sponges. Hydrobiologia, 687 (1), 49-59 doi:10.1007/s10750-011-0789-y.

  doi

• Harcet, M., Bilandžija, H., Bruvo Mađarić, B. & Ćetković, H. (2010) Taxonomic position of Eunapius subterraneus (Porifera, Spongillidae) inferred from molecular data - a revised classification needed?. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution, 54 (3), 1021-1027 doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.12.019.

  doi

• Bilandžija, H., Bedek, J., Jalžić, B. & Gottstein, S. (2007) The morphological variability, distribution patterns and endangerment in the Ogulin cave sponge Eunapius subterraneus Sket & Velikonja, 1984 (Demospongiae, Spongillidae). Natura Croatica : periodicum Musei historiae naturalis Croatici, 16 (1), 1-17.

  hrcak.srce.hr

Conference proceedings papers

Scientific conference proceedings papers

• Cukrov, M., Bilandžija, H., Cukrov, N. & Jalžić, B. (2011) Anchialine caves on Mljet island. U: Durbešić, P. & Benović, A. (ur.)ZBORNIK RADOVA SIMPOZIJA DANI BRANIMIRA GUŠIĆA – MLJET 2010. (https://www.bib.irb.hr/531020).

Theses

Doctoral dissertation

• Bilandžija, H. (2013) 'The molecular evolution of the cave animals', doktorska disertacija, Sveučilišni poslijediplomski interdisciplinarni doktorski studij Molekularne bioznanosti, Osijek.

Croatian Biospeleological Society