Dr. Joseph Thornton received a four-year grant from Health & Human Services/National Institutes of Health, entitled “Deep characterization of the sequence space and evolutionary trajectories of reconstructed ancestral proteins.” By characterizing the sequence landscape and mutational trajectories by which historical and laboratory evolution produced a novel function, this project will contribute major new knowledge and research strategy to our understanding of evolutionary genetics, evolutionary biochemistry, and transcription factor evolution.
Roberto Marquez, Kronforst Lab, received a two-year grant from the NSF Doctor Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG), entitled “The evolutionary origin and genetic of color patter diversity in Phyllobates poison frogs.” Roberto’s project goal is to elucidate the contribution of heritable phenotypic variation to the evolution of color pattern in Phyllobates poison frogs. He will investigate changes in gene expression through coloration development, in order to incorporation an additional line of evidence, allowing for more robust and biologically informed inferences regarding the involvement of genes in the convergent evolution of solid-yellow coloration in Phyllobates.
Congratulations to Dr. Thornton and to Mr. Marquez.