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Friday Evening Lecture Series
07/10/09
Lillie Auditorium, 8:00 PM
"In the Beginning: Genomics of Animal Origins and Diversity" Daniel S. Rokhsar, University of California, Berkeley; Joint Genome Institute, Department of Energy
Lecture Abstract:
The first signs of animal life appear in the fossil record nearly 600 million years ago. Modern survivors of these early progenitors include sponges, placozoans, cnidarians (anemones, jellyfish, hydra), ctenophores (comb jellies), and bilaterally symmetric animals (flies, snails, worms, humans). Each of these modern phyla retains some of the genomic dowry inherited from the earliest animals, elaborated on (and sometimes overwritten by) subsequent evolutionary innovations and losses. By comparing genomes, we not only characterize the basic genetic toolkits of animals, but also map out their evolutionary history, and infer evolutionary mechanisms for the emergence of animal diversity and complexity from more humble unicellular beginnings. Surprisingly, we are finding evidence for deep conservation of gene structure, gene content, and genome organization, and are using these features to try to reconstruct aspects of the ancestral animals.
Daniel Rokhsar is a professor in the departments of Molecular and Cell Biology, and Physics, at the University of California, Berkeley, and program head for Computational Genomics at the Department of Energy's Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, CA. Dr. Rokhsar's research is focused on understanding the origin, evolution, and diversity of animals and their relatives by combining computational genome analysis with comparative developmental biology. His work on plant genomics targets species relevant for both the development of biofuels and the adaptation of plants to changing environments. Dr. Rokhsar received his A.B. in Physics from Princeton University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from Cornell University. He carried out postdoctoral research in high temperature superconductivity at the IBM Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights before joining the Physics faculty at UC Berkeley in 1989, becoming a full professor in 1999. In the mid 1990s Dr. Rokhsar’s research interests shifted from materials physics to molecular biology, genomics, and evolution. In 2001 he founded the computational genomics program at the Department of Energy's genome center, and contributed to the sequencing and analysis of the human genome, developing methods applicable to diverse animal species. In 2002 he joined the genetics faculty at UC Berkeley. Dr Rokhsar has been a Sloan Foundation Fellow, NSF Presidential Young Investigator, and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, and since 2002 has been a lecturer in the MBL Embryology course.
Dr. Mark Martindale will introduce Dr. Rokhsar. Dr. Martindale is Director of the Kewalo Marine Lab at the University of Hawaii and an instructor in the MBL's Embryology course. He received a B.A. in Natural Sciences from the New College of the University of South Florida in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Texas in 1985. Before joining the University of Hawaii, Dr. Martindale was on faculty of the University of Chicago from 1980 until 1998. He was a student in 1982 MBL Embryology course and has been an MBL visiting scientist since 1994. He has been an instructor in the MBL Embryology course since 1999. In 2008 he was elected Fellow of the American Association of the Advancement of Science.
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