Kervens Accillien and Vedant Jain are two first year students rotating in the lab for the next several weeks. Kervens comes from Minnesota and is working on in vitro aspects of antimicrobial peptides. Vedant comes from Pittsburgh State in Kansas and is working on meiotic drive. Welcome to both!
Welcome Isaac, Wen-Juan and Clint!
On August 1st, we had three new members join the Unckless lab. We are excited for them to be here!
Isaac Nevarez-Saenz is a new technician in the lab. He completed a BS in pharmacy at KU, then was a PREP scholar and worked for a peptide synthesis company. Isaac will work on all things related to in vitro antimicrobial peptides.
Wen-Juan Ma is a new postdoc. She comes by way of the University of Groningen (PhD), University of Lausanne (postdoc), and Amherst College (postdoc). More information is on her website (http://www.wenjuanma.com/). Wen-Juan will focus on sex-ratio meiotic drive in D. affinis.
Clint Rice is also a new postdoc. He did his PhD at the University of Iowa and has worked as a postdoc in the KU IRACDA program with Rob Ward. Clint is switching to the Unckless lab to work on the evolution of antimicrobial peptides. You can read more about Clint here (https://molecularbiosciences.ku.edu/clinton-rice).
Several new preprints posted
Lab members have been busy during the pandemic. We recently posted the following preprints on bioRXiv. Also, here is one take on the value of preprints (https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000151).
Hill, T and RL Unckless. 2020. Recurrent evolution of two competing haplotypes in an insect DNA virus. bioRXiv: 10.1101/2020.0514.096024. PDF
Hill, T and RL Unckless. 2020. Selection and demography shape genome variation in a ‘Sky Island’ species. bioRXiv: 10.1101/2020.05.14.096008. PDF
Hill, T, HL Rosales-Stephens, and RL Unckless. 2020. Rapid divergence of the copulation proteins in the Drosophila dunni group is associated with hybrid post-mating-prezygotic incompatibilities. bioRXiv: 10.1101/2020.05.20.106724. PDF
Bravo Nunez, MA, IM Sabbarini, LE Eide, RL Unckless and SE Zanders. 2020. Atypical meiosis can be adaptive in outcrossed S. pombe due to wtf meiotic drivers. bioRXiv: 10.1101/2020.04.28.066035. PDF
Unckless, RL, PA Lansdon and BD Ackley. 2020. A comparative analysis of Caenorhabditis and Drosophila transcriptional changes in response to pathogen infection. bioRXiv: 977595. PDF
Jessie Perlmutter joins the lab as a postdoc
Jessie did her undergraduate work at the University of Rochester working antibiotics against Staphlyococcus aureus. She then moved to Vanderbilt where she completed a PhD with Seth Bordenstein in the Department of Biological Sciences. Her PhD work focused on the genetic basis of Wolbachia -induced male killing. Her work resulted in several papers published in mSystems, mBio, PLoS Pathogens and Nature. Her work at KU will involve projects in both Drosophila immunity and Wolbachia. We are excited to have her!
Drosophila labs at KU are recruiting graduate students for Fall 2020
KU Drosophila Biology Graduate Student Recruitment for Fall 2020
Drosophila research labs in the departments of Molecular Biosciences (MB) and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB) at the University of Kansas seek talented applicants for graduate admission to begin study in the Fall of 2020. Our strengths include evolutionary and quantitative genetics, behavior and development with labs working on specific projects including genetic conflict, mating behavior, the genetics of complex traits, the evolution of immunity and limb development.
Faculty members:
Justin Blumenstiel (genetic conflict, EEB, can take students through MB)
Jennifer Gleason (evolution and genetics of courtship behavior, EEB, can take students through MB)
Rob Unckless (evolution of immunity and genetic conflict, MB, can take students through EEB)
Jamie Walters (sex chromosome evolution and reproductive proteomics in lepidoptera, EEB)
Applicants to the EEB program (https://eeb.ku.edu/prospective-students) are admitted directly to work with a specific advisor while applicants to the MB program (https://molecularbiosciences.ku.edu/graduate-program-faqs) complete a rotation cycle before choosing a laboratory. Interested candidates should peruse the MB faculty website (https://molecularbiosciences.ku.edu/faculty) and the EEB faculty website (https://eeb.ku.edu/faculty) and contact the department or specific faculty members for more information.
Application materials can be found at:
Molecular Biosciences - http://molecularbiosciences.ku.edu/admissions
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology - https://eeb.ku.edu/how-apply
Deadlines for Fall 2019 admission:
Molecular Biosciences - December 1, 2019
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology - December 1, 2019
EEB and MB are both diverse departments ranging from ecosystem ecology to biophysics with significant interaction within and between groups.
About KU:
The University of Kansas is located in Lawrence, KS, less than an hour from Kansas City. Lawrence, Kansas is a terrific place to live, with a vibrant downtown, fantastic restaurants, lively arts scene, and beautiful rural scenery. The KU campus is an exciting, beautiful, invigorating environment with highly active research faculty.
Unckless lab goes to the 2019 Midwest Population Genetics meeting
Tom Hill, Jo Chapman and Rob Unckless attended the Midwest Population Genetics meeting in August 2019. Both Tom and Jo gave great talks and Tom won the award for best postdoc talk. Congratulations Tom!
Skye Perkins presents her work at the Center for Undergraduate Research Summer Poster Session
Skye Perkins, a researcher from the Haskell University/KU bridge program presented her research on antimicrobial activity of natural components in the Drosophila environment. Great job Skye!