I'm a researcher at Duke University, where I am currently working on my PhD in the Noor Lab. As a geneticist and evolutionary biologist, I am intrigued by a broad array of scientific puzzles. My current projects are united by my interest in how new combinations of DNA are created, how certain combinations are maintained, and how these processes influence evolution.
For more details on my dissertation research, read the synopsis below, or check out my short talk from The Allied Genetics Conference, 2016: How much do chromosomal inversions prevent gene conversion and interspecies gene flow?
Recombination and Inversions:
One of my primary projects aims to understand how chromosomal inversions shape meiotic recombination, the process that shuffles combinations of alleles across loci. Inversions suppress recombination, but we don’t fully understand how and to what extent. Though single-crossover products are prevented within inversion heterozygotes, non-crossover gene conversion (and double crossovers) can still occur. By studying the frequency and distribution of non-crossover gene conversion in inversion heterozygotes, I hope to improve our understanding of how recombination acts alongside natural selection to influence genome evolution and speciation processes.
Linked Selection:
Despite the shuffling of alleles via recombination, alleles at neighboring loci often remain non-randomly associated. This non-random association, or linkage-disequilibrium (LD), has evolutionarily important effects both within and between species. I study genetic diversity in Drosophila species with the goal of disentangling how different selective forces at a given locus can affect genetic diversity at neighboring linked loci. By understanding meiotic recombination and linked selection, I aim to address broader questions about how genetic diversity is created and maintained.
For more details on my dissertation research, read the synopsis below, or check out my short talk from The Allied Genetics Conference, 2016: How much do chromosomal inversions prevent gene conversion and interspecies gene flow?
Recombination and Inversions:
One of my primary projects aims to understand how chromosomal inversions shape meiotic recombination, the process that shuffles combinations of alleles across loci. Inversions suppress recombination, but we don’t fully understand how and to what extent. Though single-crossover products are prevented within inversion heterozygotes, non-crossover gene conversion (and double crossovers) can still occur. By studying the frequency and distribution of non-crossover gene conversion in inversion heterozygotes, I hope to improve our understanding of how recombination acts alongside natural selection to influence genome evolution and speciation processes.
Linked Selection:
Despite the shuffling of alleles via recombination, alleles at neighboring loci often remain non-randomly associated. This non-random association, or linkage-disequilibrium (LD), has evolutionarily important effects both within and between species. I study genetic diversity in Drosophila species with the goal of disentangling how different selective forces at a given locus can affect genetic diversity at neighboring linked loci. By understanding meiotic recombination and linked selection, I aim to address broader questions about how genetic diversity is created and maintained.
