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.
Journal Club Fall 2011- Sep 20th
For the second session of Journal Club this semester we will read select pages from Ronald A. Fisher’s The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection (pp. 38-42 in 1930 edition, pp. 41-45 in 1958 edition) and Sewall G. Wright’s 1932 Genetics paper “The roles of mutation, inbreeding, crossbreeding, and selection in evolution”.
Fry Lab in Germany
Jim, Mahul, Jing, and Jason in Tübingen, Germany.
The Fry Lab recently traveled to Tübingen, Germany for the 13th Congress of the European Society for Evolutionary Biology. From the photo above, it seems like they may have used this conference to add an applied dimension to their research on ethanol tolerance.
New EEB Faces: Cara Brand
Cara Brand is a new graduate student currently rotating in the Presgraves lab. She hails from North Jersey (yes, this North Jersey) and is the academic sibling of Daven, having done undergraduate research on stalk-eyed flies with Gerry Wilkinson at the University of Maryland. Her research interests include the evolution of sex chromosomes and meiotic drive. She is a big Eagles fan and is looking forward to football season.
Fall 2011 Donut Talk Schedule
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”
Journal Club Fall 2011 – Genetics of Adaptation
The topic for journal club this semester is the genetics of adaptation. Allen Orr is leading the group through both theory and data papers on the topic. Our first reading will be a nice introduction to the topic, Allen’s 2005 paper giving a brief history of the field. We’ll discuss this paper on Tuesday, Sept. 13th.
Fall 2011 Seminar Schedule
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
The Rap Guide to Evolution
While in NYC last weekend, I caught a performance of Baba Brinkman’s “Rap Guide to Evolution.” Brinkman, a Canadian MC who holds a Masters in Medieval and Renaissance English Literature, became known through his work on “The Rap Canterbury Tales” and related projects. His evolution show has received plenty of rave reviews, including three glowing commentaries in the NY Times alone ([1], [2], [3]). Brinkman’s show started strong with a few raps covering basic principles of evolution, like the three requirements for natural selection and the fact that all humans are derived from African ancestors. (I never thought I’d be doing a call and response of “I’m A African” by Dead Prez at the Soho Playhouse). The show veered from mainstream evolutionary biology when Brinkman shifted to raps about evolutionary psychology, including one inspired by Daly and Wilson’s controversial book on the evolution of Homicide and another urging us to not sleep with mean people (so that natural selection eliminate them from future generations). Count me among those who would have preferred more raps on the science of evolutionary biology rather than on speculation of how evolution might be applied to to human society.
Drinks Tonight!
Let’s start the semester off right! Services will be at Tap & Mallet starting around 9pm. They have a variety of tasty beers and good eats!
Fall 2011 EEB Journal Club
Allen Orr will be leading the Ecology and Evolution Journal club this semester. We will hold our first, organizational, meeting on Tuesday Sept. 6 at 12:30PM in Hutch 316. The topic this semester will concern the genetics and theory of adaptation.