We biologists can be a credit-hungry lot. Getting a paper into press that shows we were first to make a discovery best satisfies our appetite for affirmation. But has the trend to slice each piece of credit ever finer gone too far? (While perhaps easy for a senior member of the field like me to…

Massive amplification of genes is a desperate strategy taken by stressed populations adapting to an environment that has become inhospitable. Such amplifications can give an underperforming gene a much-needed boost in productivity simply by increasing its copy number. But counterintuitively, research reported in the May issue of G3 implies these amplifications may arise even in…

  The first plenary talk at the fast approaching Allied Genetics Conference (TAGC) will be given by Leonard Zon.  His talk is certain to provide an exciting start to the joint meeting sessions. Zon is the Grousbeck Professor of Pediatric Medicine at Harvard, Director of the Stem Cell Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, and an…

New Faculty Profiles showcase GSA members who are establishing their first independent labs. If you’d like to be considered for a profile, please complete this form on the GSA website. Amanda Larracuente Assistant Professor (since 2015) Department of Biology University of Rochester Lab website Research program: Genomes are frequently in conflict with selfish DNAs – genetic…

Sometimes, great advances in science come from combining the old with the new. Genomic selection is one such case; in 2001, Meuwissen, Hayes, and Goddard surveyed the changing landscape of genetics, had the foresight to work on a then-theoretical problem, and laid the foundation for a boom in biotechnology-assisted breeding that continues to this day.…

Back in December, we wrote here about a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Labor that would mandate that postdocs earning less than $50,440 per year would be eligible for overtime pay at 1.5 times their hourly rate. This week, the Department of Labor released its revisions to the Fair Labor Standards Act. The…

I have always been passionate about science and outreach is something I think I’m good at. So when I received an email from GSA saying I was on the shortlist for a very important advocacy and outreach event, I thought about how I might be the best scientist to represent GSA. I drafted the following…

While the textbook enhancer is often depicted just upstream of a gene, many enhancers  influence transcription from afar—some can activate genes a million base pairs away. Enhancers can even activate genes on a completely separate chromosome (i.e., in trans), a process called transvection. It’s not known how common transvection is, but an article in the…

As a geneticist, when I get asked by a friend or neighbor to explain what I do for a living more than just being a biologist, I might say something like: “I work on understanding how proteins function using yeast and other model organisms.” Besides that look of incomprehension that suggests I may have absent-mindedly…

In preparation for The Allied Genetics Conference (TAGC), set to take place in Orlando this July, Genes to Genomes is getting the inside scoop from many of the outstanding keynote speakers in our “Behind the Podium” series. Here, GSA member Tiffany Timbers interviews Prof. Pamela Ronald, a professor in the Genome Center and the Department…

New Faculty Profiles showcase GSA members who are establishing their first independent labs. If you’d like to be considered for a profile, please complete this form on the GSA website. Javier Apfeld Assistant Professor (since 2015) Biology Department Northeastern University Lab website Research program: My lab seeks to dissect the interplay between redox processes and…