Image cribbed from Metromix Rochester: http://rochester.metromix.com/bars-and-clubs/bar/dickys-rochester/558323/content
Join us for some drinks tonight at Dicky’s in the South Wedge. It sounds like folks are going to start gathering around 8:30 or 9. There is some discussion of going to part of the double feature at the Cinema Theater beforehand; Get Him to the Greek is the second feature and starts at 8:50.
The bioperl group is mostly finished with Tisdall’s Beginning Perl for Bioinformatics and are ready to face a new challenge. They’re going to have an open discussion about initiating a small bioinformatics project tomorrow at 1PM in the graduate student lounge.
Another in our series of band photos: Anthony Geneva, Rich Glor, Audrey Kelly, Ali Ossip-Klein, Julienne Ng, Ryane Logsdon, Miguel Landestoy
The Glor Lab has just returned from its largest field trip to date, with a team of seven having spent the last two weeks in the Dominican Republic. The team spent recorded behavioral data for a complex of closely related trunk anoles in varying stages of the speciation process. We spent most of our time improving sampling of molecular, behavioral, and environmental data across a transect running along the famous Recodo Rd. We took time on our last day for a band photo at the second river crossing on the Recodo Rd. (see our lab web page for somewhat more light-hearted take on this photo).
Fig. 1 from Shpak et al. 2010
Dan Garrigan just signed on to lead this Fall’s EEB Journal Club and intends to focus discussion recent population genomics literature. The list of topics is still in development, but now might be a good time for students intending to enroll in JC to get familiar with some of Dan’s most recent contributions:
Garrigan, D., R. Lewontin and J. Wakeley (2010) Measuring the Sensitivity of Single-Locus “Neutrality Tests” Using a Direct Perturbation Approach. Molecular Biology and Evolution [doi link]
Shpak, M., J. Wakeley, D. Garrigan, R. Lewontin (2010) A STRUCTURED COALESCENT PROCESS FOR SEASONALLY FLUCTUATING POPULATIONS. Evolution [doi link]
Earlier this month, the Jaenike Lab published an article in Science on their striking discovery of adaptation via symbiosis in wild populations of the fruit fly Drosophila neotestacea. Using flies sampled from across North American over the past three decades, their work illustrates rapid and profoundly important spread of a bacterial symbiont that defends the flies against the sterilizing effects of a parasitic nematode. This work illustrates one of nature’s more unexpected strategies, and one that only became evident after decades of careful study in the field and laboratory. The Jaenike Lab’s work on adaptation via symbiosis has already been featured in outlets like Discover Magazine and the Guardian.
Daniel Matute from the University of Chicago will be here on Friday, July 23 to present a seminar in Hutch 316 titled “A test of the snowball theory for the rate of evolution of hybrid incompatabilities.” For more on Daniel’s work, here are links to some of his recent papers:
Matute, D. R., J. Coyne. 2009. INTRINSIC REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION BETWEEN TWO SISTER SPECIES OF DROSOPHILA. Evolution [doi link]
Matute, D. R. 2010. Reinforcement of Gametic Isolation in Drosophila. PLoS Biology [doi link]
UPDATE: Date has been moved up to the 12th!
Interesting in getting a PhD in ecology and evolutionary biology? The U of R’s EEB group will be hosting a panel discussion on how to apply to graduate programs in ecology and evolutionary biology on July 13th 12th at 2:30PM in Hutch 473 316. Although application deadlines are still months away, most successful applicants begin the process before the summer is over. The panel discussion will focus on what to expect from the application process, how to identify suitable programs, and how to prepare a successful application.
Panelists include:
Rich Glor – Asst. Professor and member of the U of R’s graduate admissions committee
Ali Ossip-Klein – Member of Class of ’10 beginning PhD research at Indiana University this fall
Seth Rudman – Member of Class of ’10 beginning PhD research at the University of British Columbia this fall
The Scientist magazine has just ranked the University of Rochester among the 15 “Best Places to Work 2010: Academia.” Their report focusing on institutions engaged in medical and biological research singled out the U of R for offering outstanding job satisfaction, infrastructure and environment. The University is reporting on the local reaction to this ranking here.
A paper resulting from Anthony Geneva’s rotation in the Garrigan Lab just appeared in Genes. Using coalescent simulations, Geneva and Garrigan “describe the conditions for, and extent of, the introgression of genetic material into the genome of a colonizing population from an endemic population.” Their results show that our ability to diagnose reticulate evolution vary depending on a range of parameters, including population sizes, timing of secondary contact, and the duration of allopatry. One result they highlight is the finding that introgression is much more difficult to detect close to the time of a severe founder event than it is after the range of the colonizing species has had time to increase.
Forbes magazine just ranked Rochester third in its annual list of the best places to raise a family. Our fair city earned high marks for its low crime, modest cost of living, short commutes, and good educational prospects. If access to arts and culture were taken into account, I think we might have overtaken the top two cities: Harrisburg-Carlisle, Pa. and Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa.