Graduate News

Convergent Regulatory Evolution and Loss of Flight in Paleognathous Birds

April 5, 2019

Species from widely divergent taxa can experience similar changes in traits. What underlying genetic drivers cause these parallel changes remains an open question. Tim Sackton (Director of Bioinformatics and former postdoc in Scott Edwards Lab), PhD student, Phil Grayson and Prof. Scott Edwards used a new method developed by collaborators in the Harvard Statistics Department to look across groups of birds that have repeatedly lost flight. The team showed there is convergence in the regulatory regions associated with genes related to flight, but not within the protein coding regions.
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Mansi Srivastava and Andrew Gehrke with specimens in the laboratory. Courtesy of Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

The Genetics of Regeneration

March 15, 2019

In a study in the March 15 issue of Science Magazine, Mansi Srivastava and lab members Andrew Gehrke, Emily Neverett, Yi-Jyun Luo, Lorenzo Ricci (Postdocs) and Ryan Hulett (PhD student) shed light on how some animals have the amazing ability to regenerate and uncovered a number of DNA switches that appear to control genes for whole-body regeneration.

The team used three-banded panther worms to test the process and discovered...

OEB Graduate Students Receive Fall 2018 Derek Bok Center Certificate of Distinction in Teaching

March 12, 2019

Congratulations to OEB graduate students awarded the Fall 2018 Derek Bok Center Certificates of Distinction in Teaching!

Nicole Bedford (OEB 145); Catherine Chamberlain (SCILIVSY 12); Samuel Church (OEB 155R); Jessica Gersony (OEB 120); Kadeem Gilbert (OEB 114); Benjamin Goulet (OEB 50); Eadaoin Harney (OEB 252); Alyssa Hernandez (OEB 10); Ryan Hulett...

How Evolution Modified the Reptiles' Snouts

February 20, 2019

A new study led by PhD Student, Zachary Morris (S.Pierce Lab) and Stephanie Pierce examines how evolution modified the long-surviving reptiles' snouts. The study published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, shows the evolutionary history of crocodiles, alligators, and their kin, once thought to be unchanged for millions of years, has actually altered developmental...

Cheetahs stalk around a meters-high termite mound in Namibia Courtesy of Harvard SEAS

How Termite Mounds Get Their Shape

February 12, 2019

How the centimeter-sized termite is able to build meter-sized structures all over the world has long puzzled scientists. In a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Prof. Mahadevan and PhD student, Alexander Heyde, developed a simple model that shows how differences in the environment lead to the distinct morphologies of termite mounds in Asia, Australia,...

How Honey Bees Keep the Hive Cool on Hot Days

February 5, 2019

Postdoc, Jacob Peters (PhD '18) and Prof. L. Mahadevan have developed a framework that explains how bees use environmental signals to collectively cluster and continuously ventilate the hive. The study published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface looked at European honey bees (Apis mellifera), which live in large congested nest cavities with a single opening that limits...

Rise of the Golden Jackal

January 14, 2019

PhD student, Nathan Ranc (Moorcroft Lab) studies wildlife movement ecology. Nathan's work - supported by the Edmund Mach Foundation in Italy - follows the staggering expansion of the golden jackal. Ranc and Miha Krofel, a conservation biologist at the University of Ljubljana, lead 37 volunteers — scientists and naturalists — in monitoring the golden jackal throughout Europe. Ranc and Krofel's research was recently covered by the ...

Spring 2018 Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching

September 19, 2018

Congratulations to OEB graduate students, postdocs and associates awarded the spring 2018 Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching!

Graduate Students: Izzy Baker (MCB 64), Meghan Blumstein (OEB 50), Liming Cai (OEB 103), Blake Dickson (OEB 217R), Nathan Edelman (OEB 230), Morgan Furze (OEB 52), Phillip Grayson (OEB 50), Nicholas Herrmann (OEB 57), Miriam Johnston (OEB 157), Vanessa Knutson (OEB 51), Mara Laslo (OEB 167), Avantika Mainieri (OEB 57), Anju Manandhar (ESPP 90Y), Ya Min (OEB 52), Sofia Prado-Irwin (OEB 167), Jonathan Schmitt (OEB 190...

Everyone loves spring! by Percita on Flickr

How Clumps of Honeybees Survive Wind

September 17, 2018

L. Mahadevan and PhD students, Jacob Peters ('18) and Mary Salcedo (Mahadevan Lab) teamed with Prof. Orit Peleg, Colorado University-Boulder, to research the collective mechanical adaptation in honeybee swarms. The study, published in Nature Physics, shows the swarm of bees act as a superorganism that responds to physical stress by changing shape. Using both physical experiments and computer modeling, the team showed that the inverted cone...

Izzy Baker Hunting Bubbles On The R/V Falkor

September 7, 2018

PhD student, Izzy Baker (Girguis Lab) is on the R/V Falkor off the coast of Oregon (where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean), exploring methane seeps in the Cascadia Margin. Specifically, Izzy is exploring the microbial communities that live in and around these seeps in order to better understand the role microbes may...

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