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Research in Genetics and Molecular Biology |
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Genetics was originally an attempt to understand the basic mechanisms and consequences of inheritance, but with the advent of molecular genetics and genomics it has become in large part an application of this understanding to the study of biological problems of all kinds. For example, at the smallest scales, experimentally induced mutations are used to identify the proteins central to cellular, developmental, and physiological functions, and to identify the contributions of individual amino acids to the functional properties of particular proteins. And at the largest scales, the distribution of naturally occuring mutations within and among populations and species is used to study fundamental evolutionary processes like selection and drift, and to trace the history of life on earth. Thus genetics has become a unifying intellectual framework and an experimental approach that contributes to virtually every field of biology. In the Department of Biology (as in the University at large), genetics is central to work on a diversity of problems including metabolic regulation, protein folding, bacterial behavior, DNA recombination and repair, development, neuronal function (and toxin-induced dysfunction), host-parasite interactions, speciation, and ecological adapation, in a range of organisms including viruses, bacteria, yeast, plants, and animals including worms, flies, fish, mice, dogs, and humans. Genetics is biology's biggest tent: come and join the fun! Mike Bastiani Genetics of neurological development, especially growth-cone behavior and the roles of lipocalins David Blair Genetic analysis of bacterial rotary nano-motors Pene Brockie Neurobiology, synaptic function and development Mario Capecchi Mammalian developmental genetics; gene targeting; Hox genes in early mouse development; human inherited disease Sherwood Casjens Genetics of viruses and bacteria; bacterial genome evolution; genomics of the Lyme disease bacterium (Borrelia burgdorferi) Colin Dale Evolution of insect-bacterial associations; microbial diversity; ecology and evolution of symbiosis Gary Drews Genetic analysis of female gametophyte development in Arabidopsis Naomi Franklin Molecular Genetics; Regulation of transcription in prokaryotes Kent Golic Chromosome organization and function in Drosophila melanogaster David Goldenberg Genetic analysis of protein folding ("the second genetic code") Ted Gurney Molecular systematics of insects; genetic identification of insect larvae Glenn Herrick Genome rearrangements during macronuclear development of ciliated protozoa, especially Oxytricha; transposon biology Kelly Hughes Flagellar biosynthesis in enteric bacteria Erik Jorgensen Genetic analysis of neurotransmission and behavior in C. elegans; transposon biology Gordon Lark Quantitative genetics of an inbreeding plant (soybean) and and outbreeding animal (dog); interactions between quantitative trait loci Villu Maricq Genetic analysis of synapse function and neural circuits in C. elegans J. Michael McIntosh Receptors and ion channels; neuroscience; neuropharmacology Jerry Mellem Neuroscience, neurobiology, synaptic physiology, glutamate receptors, molecular genetics, electrophysiology Sandy Parkinson Genetics of bacterial signal transduction and decision making in chemotaxis Wayne Potts Evolutionary genetics of host-parasite coevolution; MHC polymorphism Alan Rogers Human population genetics, demographic prehistory, and life-history evolution Jon Seger Evolutionary and ecological genetics of adaptation Michael D. Shapiro Vertebrate genetics, development, and evolution Leslie Sieburth Genetic analysis of leaf patterning in Arabidopsis Stan Williams Genetic analysis of circadian rhythms and signal transduction in prokaryotes David Wolstenholme Mitochondrial genomes of animals and plants; evolution of bizarre t-RNAs; M- and F-type mitochondrial genomes of Mytilus californianus |