Evolution

Embarking on a new research project often brings unexpected discoveries—some intriguing, some novel, but rarely a find of a lifetime. Such a remarkable discovery occurred when university archivist and associate director Kathy Smith stumbled upon a pile of plaster, hidden away for 60 years in a dim, cluttered closet of the Branscomb Quad basement. This plaster turned out to be the long-lost Crampton’s Plesiosaur Cast from the 1870s, missing for nearly six decades. Read More

Research projects investigating the history of evolution at Vanderbilt University led to the rediscovery of a long-lost Crampton’s Plesiosaur Cast from the 1870s. Read More

The Creanza Lab, along with alumnus Matt Wilkins, BA’06, created a birdsong identification lesson plan for middle and high school students. The game show lets participants identify which birds they can hear in various pop culture media, such as movies, music, or video games. Read More

A mere decade ago, decoding the genome of every organism in a major branch of the tree of life and deciphering their diets was a pipe dream. In a groundbreaking study, a team of researchers from Vanderbilt University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other institutions worldwide have done just that for the first time ever. Led by Abigail LaBella, a postdoctoral researcher in the Rokas Lab, an international research team used the genomes and diets of nearly all known species from an ancient lineage of yeasts to understand the evolution of generalists and specialists.  Read More

Beckman Scholar Charu Balamurugan, an undergraduate researcher in the Rokas lab at Vanderbilt University, has shed light on the intricate evolutionary patterns governing secondary metabolite biosynthesis in fungi. Balamurugan delved deep into the genomes of Penicillium species, uncovering fascinating insights into the conservation and evolution of biosynthetic gene clusters and associated resistance genes. Read More

Justin Critchlow, a recent Ph.D. student in Ann Tate’s lab, just published a paper with the labmates Arun Prakash, Katherine Zhong, and Tate, uncovering the intricacies of beetle immune dynamics. This paper sheds light on the dynamics of survival, resilience, and the profound complexities inherent in evolutionary adaptations. Read More

Kyle David, an NSF postdoctoral fellow in the Rokas lab, and co-authors published a new paper, “Saccharomycotina yeasts defy longstanding macroecological patterns” in the high-impact journal PNAS. This paper, which looks at the ecology of 186 species of yeast, provides evidence that not all life-forms follow the rules. Read More

Kyle David, an NSF postdoctoral fellow in the Rokas lab, and co-authors published a new paper, 'Saccharomycotina yeasts defy longstanding macroecological patterns' in the high-impact journal PNAS. This paper, which looks at the ecology of 186 species of yeast, provides evidence that not all life-forms follow the rules. Read More

Widespread trust in vaccines often leads to higher vaccination rates, but vaccine shortages can deter even those with confidence in vaccines. Furthermore, while vaccine mandates can create an appearance of universal vaccination, people may remain hesitant, resulting in lower compliance than anticipated. Read More

Nicole Creanza and Yakov Pichkar explore whether subtle cultural differences within a language mirror genetic structure within a population. The answer: Even small cultural differences like dialect can influence the spread of people and genes. Read More

Vanderbilt biologists Nicole Creanza and Kerri-Ann Anderson have developed a new mathematical model, rooted in cultural evolution, that represents vaccine hesitancy as a belief that can influence, but not perfectly predict, whether parents will decide to vaccinate their children. Read More

Marie-Claire Harrison, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Brighter Ventures Student Award. The Brighter Ventures Student Award supports Ph.D. students interested in the application of artificial intelligence in the biomedical research field. Read More

The cultural evolution of a population depends not only on size but also on the degree of specialization within a population, according to a new study published last month by a team of scientists including Nicole Creanza. The study found that populations can increase their cultural repertoire by subdividing knowledge into smaller groups, but the total group must be sufficiently large for specialization to be advantageous. Read More

Graduate student Reese Martin and his doctoral advisor, Ann Tate, assistant professor of biological sciences, used theoretical modeling to identify a potential relationship between genetic pleiotropy and the evolution of immune responses. Read More

Scott V. Edwards, a leading expert on the evolution of biodiversity, will deliver this year’s J. T. Scopes Lecture on Wednesday, March 29. The title of his talk is “Exploring Bird Diversity Through Genomics, Museums and a Two-wheeled Cross-country Adventure.” Read More

Vanderbilt researcher Amanda Lea, along with a global team of experts, has discovered new pathways of natural selection in humans. Read More

Joan Strassmann, a world leading expert on the evolution of cooperation and fellow of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, will be giving a talk on experimental evolution of microbes on Friday Feb. 24th. Read More

Richard Lenski, a world-renowned evolutionary biologist whose long-term experiment of the microorganism Escherichia coli has been running for more than three decades, will deliver the 2023 Darwin Day Lecture at Vanderbilt University on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Read More

Local students from Stratford and Overton high schools got to excavate 70 million-year-old oysters, clams and shrimp at the Evolutionary Studies Initiative fossil search. The event aimed to teach students about food webs and to connect students with ESI grad students, postdocs and faculty to talk about college, science and evolution. Read More

Annie Hatmaker, along with a team of researchers including her adviser, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Biological Sciences Antonis Rokas, recently published a study identifying the differences in virulence among Aspergillus species, a common human-pathogenic genus of fungi. Read More