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Education
Current:
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PhD Student, Indiana
University, Department of Biology. |
June '05:
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B.S. University of
Connecticut. Major in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology.
|
| June '06: |
Summer Institute in
Statistical Genetics: Quantitative genetics, The coalescent
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Research
Nucleotide
diversity and divergence of maternal effect genes in Drosophila
We
analyzed molecular variation in five gene classes
that act
sequentially to shape the segmented body plan in Drosophila: maternal,
gap, pair-rule, segment polarity, and hox genes. We found two
related
patterns: (1) a micro-evolutionary pattern, wherein relative
intraspecific sequence diversity averages two to three fold higher for
maternal genes than for other gene classes; and, (2) a
macro-evolutionary pattern, wherein relative sequence divergence among
species averages two to four fold greater for maternal genes. Both
patterns are qualitatively and quantitatively consistent with
theoretical predictions that maternal-effect genes experience relaxed
selective constraint relative to zygotic genes due to different
patterns of gene expression. Future directions include extending this
to adult female and
male-specific genes and understanding the consequences for phenotypic
variation.
Sequence diversity in gene
regulatory regions
More to come.
Inter- and
intra-sexual
dimorphism, threshold traits and general evo-devo of Gnathocerus
cornutus
More to come. |
|
Teaching
Fall
'08
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S318:
Honors
Evolution |
AI with Mike Lynch.
|
Sping
'06
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Inquiry-based
curriculum enhancement
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HHMI grant.
|
| Fall
'05 |
L113:
Evolution & Diverity
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AI with Mike Wade. |
| Honors
|
2007:
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Society
for
Molecular Biology and Evolution, Graduate Travel Award |
2007:
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NSF
Graduate
Research Fellowship, Honorable Mention.
|
'06-'07:
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NSF
IGERT
Fellowship
|
2006:
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Travel
and
Tuition Scholarship, Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics
|
2005:
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MetaCyt
Graduate Fellowship |
Summer
'04:
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NSF/ REU Fellowship |
'01-'04
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UConn Undergraduate
Academic Achievement Scholarship
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Publications
4)
Cruickshank, T. and M.J. Wade. Microevolutionary support for a
developmental hourglass: gene expression patterns shape sequence
variation and divergence in Drosophila.
Evol &
Devel 10: 583-590. Link.
3)
Wade, M.J., N.K. Priest and T. Cruickshank. 2007. A
theoretical overview of maternal genetic effects: evolutionary
predictions and empirical tests using sequence data within and across
mammalian taxa. In Maternal Effects in Mammals. In press.
2) Moczek, A.P., T.
Cruickshank and A. Shelby. 2006. When
ontogeny reveals what phylogeny hides: gain and loss of horns during
development and evolution of horned beetles. Evolution 60(11).
1) Wade, M.J. and
T.
Cruickshank. 2006. Plastic individuals and evolving
populations. Trends in Ecol. and Evol. 21(8): 431-2.
   
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