Author Archives: Noah Snyder-Mackler

Transcriptomics in the wild (populations)

Posted on 6 Jan, 2015 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

The genomics revolution is coming has already come. The past decade has seen countless advances in genomic techniques – many of which are now commonly found in any molecular ecologist’s toolbox. For example, instead of measuring gene expression in one … Continue reading →

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Rejection, Academics, and Success.

Posted on 23 Dec, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

With the holiday season in full swing, I thought that I share a link to a recent post on weathering the rejection storm that almost invariably accompanies grant and publication reviews. those of you getting rejections are in great company. … Continue reading →

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This post is for the birds

Posted on 16 Dec, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

Note: this post was has been corrected to reflect the fact that Flamingoes and Pigeons are not sister species, but members of sister clades. Darwin’s favorite bird, the pigeon, has a new sister (clade) that includes Flamingoes and Grebes. This … Continue reading →

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Identifying and correcting errors in draft genomes

Posted on 9 Dec, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

Over the past decade we have seen an exponential increase in the number of sequenced, assembled, and annotated genomes. These these genomes are essential for pretty much any genomics research. If you want to sequence the genome, transcriptome, epigenome, or … Continue reading →

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The genetics of another multi-level society

Posted on 2 Dec, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

Long-time readers (i.e., “for more than one week”) of The Molecular Ecologist will notice that this is the 2nd post on the socio-genetics of a primate multi-level society. The first being Melissa’s post last week that covered my recent paper … Continue reading →

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Consuming raw or undercooked frogs may increase your risk of getting a rare tapeworm in your brain

Posted on 25 Nov, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

A 50-year-old UK resident had been living with an unwelcome visitor for the past 4 years and it was such a headache. Surgeons from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge removed the tapeworm during a biopsy after noticing a small circular lesion … Continue reading →

Posted in genomics, medicine, phylogenetics | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

From cats to rats: two studies on domestication and tameness

Posted on 18 Nov, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

Anyone who has ever read Charles Darwin is acutely aware of his fascination with domestication – particularly how he fancied fancy pigeons. Darwin drew on his domestication obsession while writing his book, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, … Continue reading →

Posted in adaptation, association genetics, domestication, genomics, methods, next generation sequencing, phylogenetics, quantitative genetics | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bugs fighting bugs: the evolution of the arthropod immune system.

Posted on 11 Nov, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

Since the beginning of time, animals have needed to protect themselves from invaders. They primarily do so via their innate immune system, in which trained killer cells attack foreign pathogens – ranging from microscopic bacteria to macroscopic worms. While we … Continue reading →

Posted in genomics, phylogenetics | 1 Comment

WTF (What's The Function?)

Posted on 4 Nov, 2014 by Noah Snyder-Mackler

Jay Shendure’s editorial, “Life after genetics”, points out that we, as geneticists, should shift our focus from variant-finding (e.g., GWAS) to understanding the functional implications of disease-associated variants: “We are in a period of rich discovery in human genetics and genomics. The … Continue reading →

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