Principal Investigator: Peter Andolfatto, Professor, pa2543[at]columbia.edu
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Lab manager: Open position! Please email us if you’re interested!
Postdocs:
Ana Pinharanda – Evolution of genital morphology in Drosophila, Drosophila population genomics. Morphological evolution in Lepidoptera. Coral genomics. ap3815[at]columbia.edu
Flora Borne – The evolution of toxin resistant Na,K-ATPases in animals, Epistasis in protein evolution. fb2589[at]columbia.edu.
Cynthia Chai – The neurogenetic basis of speciation in Drosophila. cc4960[at]columbia.edu
Ph. D. Students:
Lina Marcela Ruiz Grajales – Population genomics of Drosophila melanogaster. lmr2230[at]columbia.edu
Arjun Krishnan – co-advised with Molly Przeworski, Evolutionary genetics of coral adaptation. ak4890[at]columbia.edu
Naima Okami – The genetics of adaptation in Drosophila. neo2118[at]columbia.edu.
Dasha (Daria) Bykova – co-advised with Molly Przeworski, Evolutionary genetics of coral adaptation db3626[at]columbia.edu.
Visitors:
Young Mi Kwon – Research Assistant, Genetics of adaptation in Drosophila and frogs. yk2840[at]columbia.edu.
Undergraduates:
Laura Kors – Barnard College class of 2025. The evolution of morphology in Lepidoptera. The genetics of pigmentation in Drosophila.
Melody Xu – Barnard College, Class of 2026. The genetics of pigmentation evolution in Drosophila.
Mariono Cutino Martin – Columbia College Class of 2026. BUMP Biology. Chromosomal inversions associated with cardiotonic steroid resistance in Drosophila subobscura.
Namkha Toner – Columbia College Class of 2026. Cardiotonic steroid resistance in Drosophila
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Former Postdocs:
American Museum of Natural History. Chromosomal inversions, reproductive isolation and speciation in birds. http://www.danielmarchooper.com, danielmhooper[at]gmail.com
American Museum of Natural History
Former Graduate students:
Akanksha Bhat – co-advised with Molly Przeworski, Evolution of the recombination landscape in vertebrates. ab5230[at]columbia.edu.
Dr. Lu Yang – Ph. D. Princeton University, Evolution of cardiac glycoside insensitivity in animals. Currently a postdoc with Sarah Teichmann at the Sanger Institute: http://www.teichlab.org
Melissa Hernandez Poveda – MS Universidad de los Andes, Thesis co-Advisor with Andrew Crawford. The genetic basis of cardiotonic steroid resistance in frogs
Aaron Guha – MS Thesis advisor, Columbia Biological Sciences MS program, Genetics of cardiotonic steroid adaptation in Drosophila.
Dr. Clair Han – Comparative and experimental population genomics of Drosophila. Currently a research associate with David Stern at HHMI Janelia https://www.janelia.org/lab/stern-lab
Dr. Patrick Reilly – Comparative genomics of Drosophila and Lepidoptera. Currently a postdoc with Serena Tucci at Yale University https://campuspress.yale.edu/stucci/.
Dr. Andrew Taverner – Epistasis in protein evolution. Currently a Bioinformatics Scientist at Omniome https://www.omniome.com
Dr. Maria Gutin – Ph. D. Princeton University. The Genetics of morphological evolution in silkworms
Dr. Molly Schumer – Hybridization and speciation genomics in Xiphophorus fish. Assistant Professor at Stanford University https://schumerlab.com.
Dr. Matthew Aardema – Lepidopteran Genomics. Assistant Professor and Montclair State University. https://tinyurl.com/4njmj4m9
Dr. Andrea Putnam – PhD University of California San Diego. “Selection on sex-linked variation in a butterfly hybrid zone”
Julia Holder – Columbia College class of 2025. The genetic basis of cardio tonic steroid resistance in fireflies; The evolution of recombination rates in Drosophila; Demographic inference from whole genome sequencing data.
Carol Ribeiro – The genetic basis of mitochondrial homeostasis in Drosophila.Arya Rao – 2018-2021. BIOLUN3500: Independent Biological Research, Epistasis in protein evolution. Columbia U class of 2021.
Logan Blaine, MOL Senior Thesis Research, , Princeton University 2016-18. The role of epistasis in the clustering of amino acid substitutions during protein evolution.
Erica Swartwout, EEB Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2016-18, Quantifying larval foraging behavior polymorphism by unsupervised learning.
Daniel Pan, EEB Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2016-18. The effect of engineered nanoparticles on human health.
Caroline Griffin, EEB Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2016-17. Fish conservation policy in Florida.
Karen Zhang, Sophomore, Summer Research, , Princeton University 2017. The molecular basis of toxin resistance in vertebrates
Regina Visconti, Princeton Biophysics REU Program. 2016. “The chemistry of cardenolides and bufodienolides sequestered by plants and animals”.
Minjia Tang, EEB Sophomore, Princeton University, 2016 “Genetic basis of adaptive phenotypes in Drosophila”.
Mariana Wu, EEB Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2016-18. Adaptive gene expression regulation in milkweed bugs.
I’ran James, Princeton Summer Undergraduate Research Program, “Hunting for SNPs: The genomic distribution of false positive and negative variant calls”
Adam Rosenstein, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2015-17, “Parallel evolution of cardenolide resistance across insect orders.”
Christopher D. Patacsil, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2015-17, “The impact of the 2008 Farm Bill on pollinators in the United States.”
Megan S. Abbott, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2015-17, “The evolution of the sword edge trait in Xiphophorus birchmanni – malinche hybrid populations”
Sanna Edwin, Karolinska Institute, Sweden. Karolinska-Princeton Undergraduate Exchange Program. “Patterns of codon usage bias in Lepidoptera” 2014-5.
Rebecca Dresner, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University 2013-15. “Behavior and genetics determining hybridization: Studying Xiphophorus malinche and birchmanni in the Calnali and Tlatemaco hybrid zones in Mexico.”
Rachel Zambrowicz, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2013-15. “Filling in the missing heritability of complex disease: Exome sequencing identifies DNPEP as a novel potential risk gene for type-II diabetes.”
Elizabeth Cutting, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2013-15. “Differential responses to environmental stress and arsenic exposure in two populations of Fundulus heteroclitus.”
Lucy Cobbs, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2013-15. “Adaptive changes in Lampyridae illuminate evolutionary trends: A study of toxin resistance in sodium-potassium pumps.”
Loren Castellon, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2012-14. “The spotted-caudal project: Examining the genetic basis of a sexually selected trait in Xiphophorus fish.”
Jamie Ding, Molecular Biology, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2012-14. “Na+/K+-ATPase substitutions that confer cardenolide resistance in insects.”
Jesse Fields, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2012-14. “The evolution of convergence: From morphological similarities to predicting molecular adaptations.”
Nicole Chu, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2012-14 “Mate choice and behavior of Xiphophorus hellerii and X. maculatus in a sexual selection system.”
Benjamin Burton, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2010-12. “The evolution of the Na+/K+ ATPase gene in the milkweed leaf beetle (Labidomera clivicollis).”
Michael Cheng, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2010-12. “SNP density and gene function in Danaus plexippus: a preliminary study.”
Virginia Byron, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2009-11. “Evolution of gene in Drosophila sister species: a closer look at the t_MSE cis-regulatory enhancer region in yakuba and D. santomea.”
Jerry Nnanabu, EEB, Senior Thesis Research, Princeton University, 2009-11. “The creation of a new genome-wide system to study fine-scale genetic recombination variation in Drosophila melanogaster.”
Linda Boettger, 2005, University of California San Diego, “Inferring deleterious mutation parameters for the human mitochondria using an approximate Bayesian approach.”
Clinton Edwards, Undergraduate Research Assistant, 2005, University of California San Diego. “Population genetics of female reproductive genes in Drosophila.”
Elah Feder, NSERC Undergraduate Research Project, 2004, University of Toronto. “Population genetics of cardenolide resistance in the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus).”
Atosa Mehrfar, Undergraduate work-study project, 2003, University of Toronto. “The congruence of mtDNA and W-linked genealogies in the silkmoth, Bombyx mandarina.”
Adriana Puentes, Undergraduate project, 2003, University of Toronto. “mtDNA introgression in the yakubaspecies group.”
Robert Watt, Undergraduate Genetics Honors Project, 2002, University of Edinburgh. “The signature of natural selection at cyp6g1: a gene underlying DDT resistance in Drosophila melanogaster.”
Alexie Papanicolou, Undergraduate Genetics Honors Project, 2002, University of Edinburgh. “The evolution of regulatory miRNAs in Drosophila and ”
Manolia Vougioukalou, Undergraduate Genetics Honors Project, 2000, University of Edinburgh. “An unusual pattern of genetic variation in Drosophila melanogaster.”
Former High School Students
Yi Xie, Bronx High School of Science, New York, NY. Summer 2019. The genetics of cardenolide resistance in Drosophila and other insects. Top 40 finalist ($25,000), Regeneron STS Research Competition 2020.
Emily Chen, Morris Knolls High School, Rockaway, NJ. Summer 2014, “The evolution of cardenolide resistance in milkweed feeding insects.”
Fiona Zhang, Paul’s School, Concord, NH. Summer 2015, “Molecular evolution in insects.”
Andolfatto Lab 