I combine computational and experimental methods to investigate the co-evolution of genes, genomes, and species. In particular, what gene duplication, loss, and horizontal transfer events occurred during the evolution of a gene family? When did these events occur relative to morphological, ecological, and environmental changes during species evolution? How do changes in protein coding genes contribute to changes in cellular circuitry? Research activities in my lab involve (1) development of algorithms and software for answering these questions and (2) investigation of functional consequences of evolutionary events in specific biological systems.
Awards and Achievements
- Human Frontier Science Program grant for international collaboration ( 2013)
- Frontiers of Science Symposium participant, National Academy of Sciences ( 2002)
- Alfred P. Sloan - DOE Fellowship in Computational Molecular Biology ( 1998)
- Lewis Thomas Postdoctoral Fellowship ( 1998)
- NSF-NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship in Science ( 1990)