Alexander Primus
"Gene regulatory networks and the evolution of developmental mechanisms"
Ph.D., 2005, University of Texas at Austin
Currently: postdoctoral researcher, Department of Biology and Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, Duke University
I am interested in the evolution of functional non-coding regulatory DNA (i.e. the promoter/enhancer, or cis-regulatory region of a gene) and the role that changes in gene expression play in the evolution of two different biological processes: embryogenesis and parasite-mediated pathogenesis. I am currently working on a project with several colleagues in the Wray lab that is aimed at identifying specific regions of cis-regulatory DNA in the human genome that are currently, or have recently, been under positive selection. The goal of this project is to identify functional and adaptive cis-regulatory mutations that may have played a role in the evolution of higher primates.