The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Harmit S. Malik, Ph.D., principal investigator, basic sciences division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center; early career scientist, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Speaker bio(s)

The eukaryotic cell has been traditionally viewed as an exquisitely designed symbiotic network of genes in co-evolutionary equilibrium. However, several fundamental features of our genes and genomes belie the expectation that they have reached an optimal functional state. Instead, a view is emerging that eukaryotic genomes harbor a conglomerate of different genetic entities, each with their own agenda and each locked in conflict with other genetic entities for evolutionary dominance. Dr. Malik's lab is interested in understanding two forms of genetic conflict: extrinsic (between genomes) conflicts that shape genes involved in host-pathogen interactions and shape both host and viral evolution, shaping oat species' susceptibility to disease; and intrinsic (within genome) conflicts that shape eukaryotic genome architecture. Dr. Malik will describe his studies on an ancient conflict between centromeric proteins and DNA, two essential components of the chromosome segregation apparatus in eukaryotes. Recurrent episodes of this conflict may have driven post zygotic reproductive isolation between incipient species, providing one possible solution to Darwin's "mystery of mysteries."

 

Dr. Malik obtained his Ph.D. in biology from the University of Rochester, where he worked with Thomas Eickbush on the evolutionary strategies of retrotransposable elements. As a postdoctoral fellow with Steve Henikoff at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Dr. Malik focused on the evolution of centromeres and centromeric proteins. Dr. Malik started his lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in 2003 and has focused on these and other examples of usual and unusual genetic conflicts. He was named a member of the Research Center in 2011, and became an early career scientist with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2009. He is the recipient of several honors, incluing a Searle Scholar award, NSF Career Award, NIH Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering and the Vilcek Prize. 

 

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Alena Powell

Phone

(212) 327-7745

Sponsor

Alena Powell
(212) 327-7745
apowell@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3266