Molecular Anthropology Group

Areas of Specialization
Molecular anthropology; primate evolutionary genomics; human brain evolution; genotype-phenotype connections; primate adaptation; ancestral gene resurrection; innate immunity; simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)


Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Center for Molecular Medicine & Genetics at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine (2009 – 2011)
Ph.D. Department of Anthropology, New York University (2009)


Research Interests [publications]
The primary focus of my research is to understand the genetic basis of distinctive human traits. I use a combination of comparative genomics and molecular biology to connect primate genotypes to adaptive phenotypes in order to address larger questions about primate evolution, biology, health and disease. I have ongoing research projects investigating human brain evolution (with collaborators in the Molecular Evolution Group at Wayne State University) and primate innate immunity and adaptation to viral infection.


Teaching Schedule for 2013
Winter 2013
Introduction to Molecular Anthropology ANTH 199
Bioanthropology Methods ANTH 487/587

Spring 2013
Introduction to Biological Anthropology ANTH 270
Advanced Evolutionary Medicine ANTH TBA


Previous Teaching
Winter 2012
Evolutionary Theory ANTH 468/568
Graduate Seminar in Molecular Anthropology ANTH 610

Spring 2012
Introduction to Biological Anthropology ANTH 270
Bioanthropology Methods ANTH 487/587