The next two Donut talks will also be the tenure seminars for two EEB Assistant Professors. Both seminars start at noon in Hutchison 473.
This Monday (19 Sept) Richard Glor will present on “The Evolution of Species Diversity in Anolis Lizards”
The following week (Monday, 26 Sept) Justin Ramsey presents: “An intersection of ecology and genetics: how polyploidy mediates population processes in flowering plants”
David Loehlin successfully defended his PhD thesis earlier today! A reception is set for 4PM in the graduate student lounge followed later this evening by a party at Jack Werren’s house. David will be with us for a few more weeks before he plans on heading to the University of Wisconsin, Madison to do a postdoc with Dr. Sean B. Carroll. During his postdoc, he’s interested in studying the genetic mechanisms behind how new patterns (such as the wing spots in certain Drosophila species) originate.
Get ready for two cool talks this Friday (Sept. 16). First Werren Lab student David Loehlin will be defending his PhD thesis on “”Genetics of size and shape evolution in Nasonia” at 11AM in 102 Schlegel Hall. Later that afternoon, David Stern will give a seminar on “How a complex enhancer region contributes to phenotypic robustness and morphological evolution” at 3PM in Hutch 316.
All of the following talks are on Monday’s at noon in Hutch 473.
Sept 12 – Dr. William Saxton, University of California Santa Cruz, Department of Physical & Biological Sciences, “Peering into Drosophila oocytes and axons to understand intracellular motion and neurodegenerative disease”
Sept 19 – Dr. Rich Glor, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “The Evolution of Species Diversity in Anolis Lizards”
Sept 26 – Dr. Justin Ramsey, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “An intersection of ecology and genetics: how polyploidy mediates population processes in
flowering plants”
Oct 3 – Dr. Andrew Read, The Pennsylvania State University, Department of Biology & Entomology, “How best to manage the ‘natural’ selection created by medical practice”
Oct 10 – Fall Retreat – No talk scheduled
Oct 17 – TBA
Oct 24 – Dr. Daniela Drummond-Barbosa, Johns Hopkins University, Dept of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, “Control of stem cells by diet and systemic factors in the Drosophila ovary”
Oct 31 – Dr. Nima Mosammaparast, Harvard Medical School, Department of Pathology, “The DNA damage response in the chromatin context”
Nov 7 – Dr. Eric Brown, McMaster University, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, “Chemical genomics: charting chemical genetic interactions in bacteria”
Nov 14 – Dr. Chris Lowe, Stanford University, Department of Biology, “Early evolutionary origins of the vertebrate head developmental program – a hemichordate
perspective”
Nov 21 – Dr. Tobias Walther, Yale University, Department of Cell Biology, “Greasy Stuff: mechanisms of lipid homeostasis and storage”
Nov 28 – Dr. Laura Niedernhofer, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, “DNA damage as a driver of aging-related degenerative diseases”
Dec 5 – Dr. Claude Desplan, New York University, Department of Biology, “Processing of color information in Drosophila”
Dec 12 – Dr. Eckhard Jankowsky, Case Western Reserve Univ. School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry, “Mutual modulation: functional crosstalk between RNA helicase and poly(A) polymerase in the TRAMP complex”
EEB seminar speakers for Fall of 2011.
Jack Werren has assembled another terrific semester of EEB seminars. The complete schedule is below, and is also available in PDF format.
Sept 16 – Dr. David Stern, HHMI at the Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, “How a complex enhancer region contributes to phenotypic robustness and morphological evolution”
Sept 23 – Dr. Sarah Kingan, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “Divergence Population Genomics of the Drosophila simulans clade”
Sept 30 – Dr. David Wheeler, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “Exploring the venom repertoire of Nasonia vitripennis”
Oct 7 – Dr. Amro Zayed, York University, Department of Biology, “Honey bee genes, behavior and adaptation”
Oct 14 – Dr. Xu Wang, Cornell University, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, “New insights in X inactivation in mice and equids”
Oct 21 – Dr. Robert Minckley, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “Bees in drought, and when moistened”
Oct 28 – Dr. James Fry, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “TBA”
Nov 4 – Dr. Daven Presgraves, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “New findings on the evolution, expression, and regulation of the Drosophila X chromosome”
Nov 11 – Dr. Michael Nachman, Univ. of Arizona, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, “The genetic basis of reproductive isolation in house mice”
Nov 18 – Dr. John Colbourne, Indiana University, Department of Genomics And Bioinformatics, “Duplicating Genes Allow Daphnia Populations to Thrive in Toxic Environments”
Nov 25 Thanksgiving holiday—no talk scheduled
Dec 2 – Daniel Scantlebury, University of Rochester, Department of Biology, “A Post MacAurthur-Wilson Perspective of Island Biogeography: the View from Madagascar”
Dec 9 TBA
Justin Ramsey will give a talk entitled “Stand structure and ground flora of old-growth Beech-Maple forests: physiography, exotic invasion, and agricultural legacy” Monday at noon in Hutchison 316.
Photo of domesticated foxes in Russia by Vincent Musi for National Geographic.
Next Monday, Dr. Anna Kukekova will be in town to discuss “Genetics of complex behaviors in the silver fox model of animal domestication.” The seminar is at noon in Hutch 473. Dr. Kukekova investigates the genetics of domestication and disease in canines (citations and links to two recent papers are below). Dr. Kukekova was also featured in a recent National Geographic article on “Taming the Wild” and is a consultant for a forthcoming NOVA special on “Dogs Decoded.”
Statham et al. (2011) On the origin of a domesticated species: identifying the parent population of Russian silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes). Biological Journal of Linnean Society 103:168-175 [doi link]
Goldstein et al. (2010) Exonic SINE insertion in STK38L causes canine early retinal degeneration (erd). Genomics 96:362-368 [doi link]
The 49th lecture in this series will be given by Dr. Thomas Eickbush,
“How reverse transcriptase changed our genome: lessons from a simple model system”
The lecture will be held in the Ryan Case Method Room 1-9576 at 4 pm, followed by drinks and snacks in the Forbes Lounge 1-9580.
This week we have seminars from two current PhD students. Jing Zhu will talk about “The effect of sexual selection on fitness in a Drosophila melanogaster – ethanol system.” Anthony Geneva will discuss “Genomics of speciation in Hispanolan trunk Anoles.”
