 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
The Richard G. Kessel Lecture in Embryology
7/02/08 - 9:00 AM - Speck Auditorium
"Comparative Genomics and the Tempo and Mode of Metazoan Evolution"
Daniel Rokhsar, UC Berkeley and Joint Genome Institute
Daniel Rokhsar is Professor of Molecular Cell Biology and Physics at the University of California at Berkeley and the Program Head for Computational and Eukaryotic Genomics at the Joint Genome Institute. After a Ph.D. at Cornell University in theoretical physics and postdoctoral research at IBM, Dr. Rokhsar joined the physics faculty at the University of California at Berkeley in 1989. In the mid 1990s his research interests shifted from materials physics to biophysics, computational biology, and genomics. In 2000 he joined the JGI to lead its computational biology program. He is a former NSF Presidential Young Investigator, Sloan Foundation Fellow, Miller Research Professor, and Guggenheim Foundation Fellow. His interests focus on understanding the origin, evolution, and diversity of animals by combining computational genome analysis with comparative cell and developmental biology.
Abstract for today’s lecture: Over a dozen diverse animal genomes are now available for comparative analysis, including so-called “basal” metazoans (demosponge, placozoan, two cnidarians) and representatives of an increasing number of bilaterian phyla (flies, nematodes, segmented worms, molluscs, urchins, and chordates). Comparisons between these genomes and those of non-animals allows us to make inferences about deep animal relationships, and to characterize the evolution of gene domain and intron-exon structure and even genome structure across the animal tree of life. Fruitfly and soil nematode are secondarily simplified in many genomic characteristics relative to other animals. Conversely, many seemingly “advanced” characteristics of vertebrates are in fact shared with “basal” metazoans, conserved from the metazoan ancestor. These analyses provide a framework for thinking about animal evolution and diversity.
About the Richard G. Kessel Lecture in Embryology
Native Iowan Richard G. Kessel has long been fascinated by the ocean, and has devoted much of his career to the study of the diversity and development of marine organisms. After receiving his B.S. in Chemistry from Parsons College in 1953, he entered the University of Iowa as a graduate student in Zoology. While a student there, Dr. Kessel studied the fine structure and physiology of insect pericardial and subesophageal body cells. During his graduate training, an invertebrate zoology course stimulated his curiosity about marine organisms.
Dr. Kessel received his Ph.D. in 1959 and accepted a position in the anatomy department at Wake Forest Medical School. In 1961, he returned to the University of Iowa, where he moved through the ranks to Professor. In 1997, after 36 years of teaching, research, and service, Dr. Kessel retired from the University.
Dr. Kessel spent the summer of 1957 in Woods Hole, as a participant in the MBL's Embryology Course. He was a graduate student at the time, and the curriculum and seaside setting dovetailed with his flourishing interests in the ocean and marine organisms. He enjoyed the discussions and interactions that occurred in the course and published the results of his course project in the journal Experimental Cell Research.
Dr. Kessel has published more than 120 research and review articles, and is the author of five books on subjects including histology; scanning electron microscopy; and specialized techniques related to cell, tissue, and organ microscopy.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
