Mentor name: Carlos F.  Arias

Link to lab page: https://striresearch.si.edu/gamboa-heliconius/

Co-mentor(s): Owen McMillan

Location of internship: Gamboa, Ecological and Evolutionary Genomics Lab.

Project abstract

A central topic in evolutionary biology is to understand the conditions under which the interplay between natural selection, genetic drift and gene flow can produce new variation. Within this framework, there is a renewed interest in the geographic context of speciation and, in particular, its consequences on genome differentiation and architecture in the generation of new forms. 

Despite theoretical advancements in this field, there are still few empirical studies exploring how the genome evolves during adaptation and speciation, especially in scenarios of recent colonization. This project aims to bridge that gap through a comparative genomic analysis of three species of neotropical electric fish, utilizing state-of-the-art sequencing technologies such as Oxford Nanopore and Illumina, along with advanced bioinformatics tools.

The student will gain experience in key molecular biology techniques and learn to manage workflows ("pipelines") for the analysis of comparative genomics data. The results of this study will contribute to a better understanding of the evolutionary processes that generate biological diversity, exploring the interaction of evolutionary forces at different temporal and spatial scales.

Skills required

Preferably some knowledge in Bioinformatics, Bash, and R.
Some knowledge of molecular techniques.