The following posts list the most recent updates pertaining to our lab.
Our social life took a hit during the pandemic, but we finally revived our annual mushroom-hunting trips to the Sonoma Coast. It’s been dry so mushrooms were not as abundant as we hoped – but we got some yellowfeet, black trumpets, and bellybutton hedgehogs (Craterellus tubaeformis, C. cornucopioides, and Hydnum umbilicatum).
To celebrate the completion of David’s dissertation on the evolutionary genetics of novel characters in Drosophila, the Kopp lab traveled to Amador county to sample their vineyards. Bravely, the intrepid researchers swirled, sipped, and opined about tannins and smokiness in the pour houses of the Sierra foothills. After several hours of wine sampling, and innumerable wheels of cheese, the Kopp lab ended the day with an impromptu “dance” circle where we all reminded ourselves, and the occasional unfortunate onlooker, why we are scientists instead of break dancers.
David is now off to Michigan State University to continue his search for the genetic mechanisms of evolution as he dives into the strange world of electric fish in the Jason Gallant Lab.
Good Luck David! You will be missed.
written byAmmon, photo credits: Ammon and Emily
Artyom and Olga have finally returned after a year-long sabbatical in Germany! Despite our best efforts to clean and organize the lab before their return, we were asked to clean the lab again 😉
We look forward to resuming our habits of altering the settings on Artyom’s dissecting scope and pestering Olga to order reagents and bake for us. Welcome home!
Written by Emily Delaney
Congratulations – Giovanni has received the Outstanding Student Service Award from the Integrative Genetics and Genomics graduate group.
Ammon knocked it out of the park with his NIH postdoctoral grant. We are pleased to report that Dr. Thompson is now the recipient of two years of independent NIH funding for his work on transcriptome analysis and evolution. Way to, Ammon!
Nerisa is leaving our lab this summer to start a veterinary medicine program at Ohio State. Congratulations! We’ll miss her – but someone has to develop new cures for flies.
Great news – Kevin has been accepted to the Bioinformatics graduate program at the University of Michigan. But we’ll still have the pleasure of his company for a few more months.
Logan Blair from the Integrative Genetics and Genomics graduate group has joined the lab. He will be working on the origin and evolution of cis-regulatory sequences in Drosophila.
Giovanni Hanna from the Integrative Genetics and Genomics graduate group has joined the lab. His work will focus on the development and evolution of male (and perhaps also female) reproductive organs.
David receives an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant for his work on the evolution of novel sensory systems. His project will focus on how the new organs acquire their unique repertoire of effector genes.
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