- Work Address:
- Department of Plant and Microbial Biology
- 321 Koshland Hall
- University of California
- Berkeley California 94720
- (510) 642-8441
- email: sharpton@berkeley.edu
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It was as a biochemistry and biophysics student at Oregon State University, that I became interested in DNA. I thought it amazing that four similarly shaped molecules could, when arranged in a particular order, provide instructions to create a living organism. Better still, different permutations of this genetic code could result in wholly different organisms. This naturally led into an interest in molecular evolution and biodiversity. Understanding the total amount of genetic diversity on Earth, how the environment shapes the evolutionary trajectory of genomes, and the how the processes of mutation and adaptation can create new phenotypes alter the organism's environment are topics that occupy a significant chunk of the curious part of my mind.
My graduate research has focused on understanding how fungal genomes have evolved. I use comparative genomic, molecular evolutionary and phylogenetic tools to evaluate whole genome sequences and determine how they have evolved. A research internship at the Broad Institute introduced me to a computational environment and to the Cryptoccocus genomes, a dataset I analyzed to identify rates and mechanisms of eukaryotic intron loss. I have also investigated the Onygenales, which includes the human pathogen Coccidioides. In particular, I have evaluated how gene gain and loss, chromosomal rearrangements, and natural selection have shaped the evolutionary trajectory of these genomes. In addition, I am applying population genetic analyzes to multiple individual genome sequences from the Coccidioides species complex to evaluate how genomes evolve at the population level.
My anticipated graduate is December 2008 and I'm keeping an ear to the rail regarding particular postdoctoral openings. If you'd like to talk, my inbox is always open. For more information on my background and interests, please browse the following documents:
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