Next week at journal club we will be discussing these two papers on evolvability.
Pigliucci, M (2008) Is evolvability evolvable? Nature Reviews Genetics 9, 75-82
Holiday Donations
Please join us in spreading good cheer this holiday season! The Biology Department will be donating items to the Community Food Cupboard & the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Please drop off donation items in the front office. Thanks!
EEB Seminar, Friday, December 6: “Rapid evolutionary divergence via sexual selection: from process to pattern in a Hawaiian species radiation”
Yasir Ahmed is host to Dr. Kevin Oh, Postdoc Associate in the Shaw Lab at Cornell University. He is presenting a talk titled, “Rapid evolutionary divergence via sexual selection: from process to pattern in a Hawaiian species radiation.” In his own words, this is what Dr. Oh says of his research:
“The overarching theme of my research is understanding the role of dynamic natural and sexual selection in the evolution and maintenance of phenotypic diversity. In particular, I investigate (1) the contributions of social, genetic, and demographic contingencies to variable and context-dependent patterns of selection on secondary sexual morphologies and behaviors within populations, and (2) the consequences of such variation to intraspecific divergence between populations. To this end, my work integrates long-term field studies, molecular techniques, quantitative genetics analysis, and behavioral experiments in both wild and laboratory-reared vertebrate and invertebrate populations.”
Dr. Mahul Chakraborty
Congratulations to Mahul Chakraborty from the Fry Lab who successfully defended his dissertation on “Adaptive constraint and its natural rescuers: insights from Drosophila aldehyde dehydrogenase.” There will be a party for Mahul on Friday to celebrate!
EEB Seminar, Friday, November 22: “Selection on central metabolism in Drosophila melanogaster”
Dr. Jim Fry will be hosting Dr. Walter Eanes’ visit on Friday, November 22. Dr. Eanes is a Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University. He is presenting a talk titled, “Selection on central metabolism in Drosophila melanogaster.”
Dr. Eanes received his Bachelors degree from Cornell University, a Masters degree in Marine Science from the College of William and Mary and his Ph.D. from the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook. He is a member of the graduate program in Ecology and Evolution and the graduate program in Genetics at Stony Brook and is a former member of the GENETICS and EVOLUTION Editorial Boards. For more information on Dr. Walter Eanes’ research, please visit his website.
Upcoming Thesis Defenses
Just a reminder we have three upcoming thesis defenses this semester, make sure to mark them in your calendar!
Mahul Chakraborty
Thurs, November 21
2:00 PM, Hutch 473
“Adaptive constraint and its natural rescuers: insights from Drosophila aldehyde dehydrogenase”
Jing Zhu
Wed, December 18
1:00 PM, Hutch 473
“Costs and benefits of sexual selection in Drosophila”
Zhihuan Li
Thurs, December 19
10:30 AM, Hutch 473
“The role of lipid droplets in regulating histone metabolism”
Journal Club 11/19
Next week, with the help of Dr. Ghaemmaghami, we will be discussing prion evolution
Tyedmers, Jens, Maria Lucia Madariaga, and Susan Lindquist. “Prion switching in response to environmental stress.” PLoS biology 6.11 (2008): e294.
Halfmann, Randal, et al. “Prions are a common mechanism for phenotypic inheritance in wild yeasts.” Nature 482.7385 (2012): 363-368.
TGIF TODAY
Please join us to celebrate Friday, today at 4pm in Hutch 341! Pizza, wings, snacks, and drinks will be served.
EEB Seminar, Friday, November 15: “Host sexual dimorphism and its consequences on parasite evolution”
Dr. John Jaenike will be hosting Dr. David Duneau’s visit on Friday, November 15. Dr. Duneau is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Entomology at Cornell University. He is presenting a talk titled, “Host sexual dimorphism and its consequences on parasite evolution.”
Dr. Duneau did his undergraduate studies in France at the University of Montpellier where he received his master degree in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology in 2006. He then did his PhD at the University of Basel (Switzerland) under the supervision of Dieter Ebert.
Journal Club 11/12
Next week we will be reading papers about maternal effect of plasticity. The two papers are listed below:
Galloway, Laura F., and Julie R. Etterson. “Transgenerational plasticity is adaptive in the wild.” Science 318.5853 (2007): 1134-1136.