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Trainees of ESI receive high praise
Apr. 8, 2022—By: Andy Flick Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator We congratulate all trainees who applied for grants this cycle regardless of the result. Putting together major grants is hard work and a feat in and of itself. So, for those that didn’t get funded, keep your heads up, we still think you’re awesome! For the NSF...
Vanderbilt researchers use new method to target potentially undiscovered beneficial therapeutic chemicals
Apr. 5, 2022—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator A team of researchers from the Eichman lab and associated with the Evolutionary Studies Initiative led a project that was recently published in mBio. Graduate student Noah Bradley and undergraduate student Katie Wahl (BA21, BCB) were co-first authors on the work studying chemical compounds produced by bacteria....
Medical researchers develop new methodology for molecular mechanisms of disease
Mar. 29, 2022—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator Evolutionary Studies Initiative researcher Eric Gamazon and his former postdoctoral researcher, Dan Zhou (now faculty at Zhejiang University), recently published new software and methodology for understanding the molecular basis of disease. They then applied their work to understanding the genetic basis for COVID-19 severity. The study is...
ESI Group Visits Coon Creek Science Center
Mar. 28, 2022—On Saturday, 3/26/22, a handful of members of the Evolutionary Studies Initiative took a field trip to Coon Creek Science Center (CCSC) to dig for fossils. It was a beautiful day where many trainees that have never studied paleontology got to get out and do some field work. Michael Gibson, a faculty at the University...
Graduate student Jacob Steenwyk receives prestigious 2022 Harold M. Weintraub Award
Mar. 23, 2022—Jacob Steenwyk, a sixth-year doctoral student studying biology in the Rokas Lab, is a recipient of the 2022 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award presented by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Jacob Steenwyk He is the second Vanderbilt student ever to have received this honor, which recognizes outstanding achievement in graduate studies in biological...
Researchers aim to define host-parasite interactions by modeling the effects of coinfection on community dynamics
Feb. 14, 2022—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator Research conducted at Vanderbilt has been published in a new study in The American Naturalist that models how parasites interact to affect their host’s behavior. The results of the research, conducted by Faith Rovenolt, BA’20, and Ann Tate, assistant professor of biological sciences, reinforce an understanding of the influence...
Microbiologists collaborate on new interdisciplinary research program
Feb. 13, 2022—By: Dr. Andy Flick, scientific coordinator Evolutionary Studies Initiative Big surprises can come from the smallest packages, for example, microbes. Assistant professors Drs. Megan Behringer and Benjamin Bratton have formed a collaboration to study the evolution of E. coli – funded by a pilot grant from the Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI). The pair use a...
Vanderbilt astronomers discover exceedingly rare star
Feb. 11, 2022—By: Andy Flick, scientific coordinator, Evolutionary Studies Initiative A team of astronomers have made the discovery of a lifetime that will help answer burning questions on the evolution of stars. The group is led by Evolutionary Studies Initiative member and Stevenson Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Keivan Stassun. Stassun’s team generated a new model that...
Graduate student studies lifestyle-associated diseases as evolutionary mismatch
Feb. 1, 2022—By: Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator Audrey Arner, a first-year Ph.D. student in Dr. Amanda Lea’s lab, recently earned a pilot research grant from the Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) to study the evolutionary mismatch hypothesis. Arner described evolutionary mismatch as, “the same allele that was beneficial in the ancestral environment could be detrimental...
Seven awards given in inaugural Evolutionary Studies Initiative pilot grant program
Jan. 24, 2022—By Andy Flick, Evolutionary Studies Initiative scientific coordinator The Evolutionary Studies Initiative (ESI) has awarded seven grants to researchers in the initiative. These grants will seed new projects and collaborations. We highlight a quick snapshot of the variable and exciting projects below – with links to full stories on three individual projects. ESI director, Cornelius...