Judith Ikerionwu (senior) presented her research on DNA virus evolution at the Undergraduate Research Symposium on April 28th. Congratulations on the culmination of a lot of work!
Edit: Judith won an "Outstanding Presentation Award" for her work!
A long overdue update to the lab photo
We've grown quite a bit since the last lab photo was taken on our first day back in August 2016. Here we are in February 2018. Front (left to right): Uma Desai, Rosanna Chan, Mason Wilkinson, Sarah Mullinax, Maureen Dowell. Back (left to right): Kent Mulkey, Judith Ikerionwu, Rob Unckless, Tom Hill, Jo Chapman. Missing: Randie Rudder, Katie Pileggi.
Mason Wilkinson joins the lab
Mason Wilkinson recently joined the lab as an assistant researcher (or technician). He hails from Overland Park, Kansas. Mason graduated from KU in December 2017 and worked in Roberto de Guzman's lab on a biophysical characterization of the Burkholderia Type III Secretion System Minor Translocon Protein, BipC. This earned Mason an honorable mention for a poster presented at the recent K-INBRE symposium in Overland Park, KS. Mason will bring his biochemistry skills to our lab to work on molecular aspects of how immune proteins interact directly with pathogens.
Tom's new paper on the Drosophila innubila Nudivirus genome
Tom Hill (postdoc) recently published a paper characterizing the genome of the Drosophila innubila Nudivirus (DiNV). These viruses are large (155kb), double-stranded, circular DNA viruses that appear to infect several members of the Drosophila genus. Tom found preliminary evidence that a few key genes are evolving adaptively in the virus. You can read the paper in Infection, Genetics and Evolution by clicking here.
Lab lasertag and a trip to Pet World
Last week we celebrated a few milestones by petting small mammals and playing lasertag. Here are some pictures...
Sydney Alexander joins the lab for a rotation
Sydney at Pet World
We were pleased to welcome Sydney Alexander to the lab in August. She will be here through the end of October as her first rotation. Sydney is from Olathe, Kansas and attended Rockhurst University in Kansas City. Sydney's project focuses on interspecific divergence in immune defense in Drosophila. As an undergraduate, Sydney studied several things including the ability of wine to act as an antibiotic!
Tom's paper on baculovirus molecular evolution is out in the Journal of Virology
Tom Hill's paper entitled, "Baculovirus molecular evolution via gene turnover and recurrent positive selection of key genes" is out in the Journal of Virology. Here's a short blurb:
Most viral evolutionary studies focus on RNA viruses. While these viruses cause many human and animal diseases, it leaves us with a lesser understanding of how DNA viruses adapt to hosts and how the host responds to these pathogens. In this paper, we focus on the evolution of baculovirus, a group of insect-infecting DNA viruses, many of which have been used in biocontrol. We find that most the genome is under purifying selection, with only a few key genes evolving adaptively. Our results provide a glimpse into how DNA viruses differ from RNA viruses in their evolutionary dynamics and identifies genes key to DNA virus adaptation, improving our understanding of how this group of pathogens evolves.
