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Center for the Study of Human Origins Department
of 25 Waverly Place telephone: |
Position:
Primate Innate Immune Defense and Adaptation to Viral Infection It is well recognized that adaptive responses to environmental pressures can influence a primate’s genome, morphology or even behavior. Pathogens, specifically viruses, have been part of the primate environment for thousands (if not millions) of years and variation observed in primate susceptibility to viral infection and disease suggests that the genomes of some primates are better adapted to co-exist with certain viruses. In order to understand these adaptations, my dissertation research explores the evolutionary history of a selection of genes (including TLR7, MyD88, and RIG-I) involved in the immune system across a wide cross-section of primates. Masters Research: Colobine Molecular Phylogeny I have been involved in a number of research projects using mitochondrial sequence to examine the molecular phylogeny of the living primates. My M.A. thesis research used whole mitochondrial genome sequence of eight colobines (or leaf –eating monkeys) to infer the evolutionary relationships among the genera of the subfamily Colobinae. My results support a monophyletic clade of odd-nosed colobines consisting of Nasalis, Pygathrix, and Rhinopithecus. These data have been published in Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution (Sterner et al., 2006).
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