Research in the lab employs molecular and bioinformatic tools to study evolutionary processes at the level of populations, both experimental and natural, and genomes. Our research interests encompass a wide range of topics, including the evolution of organellar and nuclear genomes, gene duplication and the origin of novel function, and the fitness and phenotypic consequences of mutation in evolution.
THE LATEST..............
November 2011
Two recent accolades for undergraduate research assistant Matthew Solomon this month. He has been elected a Ronald P. McNair scholar and has been accepted into the Undergraduate Honor’s thesis program. Way to go, Matt!!!
Vaishali gave an invited talk to the general public titled “The Case for Evolution” on November 16th, 2011 as part of the Albuquerque Academy High School’s Community Lecture Series. On November 18th, 2011, she presented “The Case for Evolution” to the student body at the Albuquerque Academy (grades 10-12, 8-9 and 6-7).
September 2011
Our latest paper in BMC Evolutionary Biology evaluates the rate of sequence asymmetry in gene duplicates pairs in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae originating from both small-scale duplications (SSD) and whole-genome duplication (WGD). We demonstrate that, on average, the derived copy in SSD pairs does evolve at an accelerated pace relative to the ancestral paralog. In addition, faster-evolving copies for both SSD and WGD pairs have lowered codon usage and expression levels.
Congratulations to Ph.D. student Lijing Bu for his first publication from the lab!!!
August 2011
Undergraduate researchers Lucy Packard and Matt Solomon won scholarships from the UNM Parent Association. Congratulations to both!
April 2011
Undergraduate research assistant Kayleigh Stogsdill won the Thelma Evans Scholarship from the UNM Biology Department.
Undergraduate research assistant Matthew Solomon won the ML Hughes Scholarship from the UNM Biology Department.
Heartiest congratulations to both!
