​the role of regulatory evolution in speciation and adaptation

As a graduate student in the Nachman lab, my work currently focuses on house mice (Mus musculus). House mice are a premier biomedical model system and a powerful mammalian model for the study of adaptation and speciation.

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​The genetic architecture of hybrid male sterility

Charles Darwin called speciation the “mystery of mysteries.” I am interested in understanding this great mystery through the lens of postzygotic reproductive isolation. I leverage large-scale genomic datasets, laboratory crosses, and forward evolution experiments to study the genetic architecture of hybrid sterility in the house mouse subspecies Mus musculus domesticus and M. m. musculus. 

THE CONTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT LEVELS OF GENE REGULATION on PHYLOGENETIC TIMESCALES

Recent studies have identified a major role for regulatory changes in phenotypic evolution. However, much of the research in this area has focused on transcriptional regulation while the role of post-transcriptional changes has remained largely ignored. Using a variety of molecular techniques combined with next-generation sequencing, I am characterizing the contribution of different levels of regulatory divergence to phylogenetic divergence in the Muridae.

​THE ROLE OF GENE REGULATION
​IN Adaptation

Mus musculus domesticus has recently colonized the Americas and can be found in extremely variable environments from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. Together with others in the Nachman lab, I am working to characterize gene expression variation in natural populations of house mice as well as the the role of gene regulation in clinal adaptation in North America.