One question ties my dissertation together: how do phenotypes emerge from genotypes — and how can multi-omics workflows make that link interpretable, reproducible, and teachable? Each project pairs a biological question with a data skill that transfers directly to industry.

01Published (GBE 2025) · first-author in submission

Hemoglobin gene evolution in ectotherms

How are life-history traits and environment linked to molecular change in hemoglobin across reptiles?

Approach

Selection tests (dN/dS, HyPhy) and phylogenetic comparative models across four Hb subunits and a global sample of reptiles.

Why it matters beyond academia

Large-scale sequence analysis and statistical modeling of genotype–phenotype links.

Molecular evolutionHyPhyPhylogenetics

02In progress

Comparative transcriptomics of dendrobatid frogs

Did chemical defense evolve through shared or lineage-specific molecular mechanisms in poison frogs?

Approach

Multi-tissue RNA-seq, de novo assembly, and annotation to find candidate genes for alkaloid sequestration.

Why it matters beyond academia

Differential expression and candidate-gene discovery — the same logic as target identification.

RNA-seqGene expressionCandidate genes

03Manuscript in preparation

Amphibian & invertebrate bio-glues

Which genes build the adhesive secretions of velvet worms and amphibians — and how old are they?

Approach

Transcriptomics of slime-producing tissues, protein composition profiling, and comparison with known adhesive proteins.

Why it matters beyond academia

Natural adhesives as leads for biomaterials and bio-inspired design.

BiomaterialsProteomics-awareTranscriptomics

04Experimental phase

Poison frog alkaloid chemistry

How do poison frogs take up, store, and possibly modify dietary alkaloids?

Approach

Extraction-method benchmarking, GC-MS profiling, feeding experiments, and a digitized Daly alkaloid library (800+ compounds).

Why it matters beyond academia

Analytical chemistry, method validation, and building a reusable reference library.

GC-MSMetabolomicsChemical ecology

054 manuscripts in preparation

Andean invertebrate transcriptomics & mitogenomics

Can RNA-seq recover mitogenomes and barcodes for neglected, data-poor species?

Approach

RNA → mitogenome → COX1 barcoding for planarians, velvet worms, parasites, and pest-control species with UBRP high-school teams.

Why it matters beyond academia

Turning scarce, messy samples into usable reference data; biodiversity and biocontrol applications.

MitogenomicsDNA barcodingMentored research

06Presented at CSHL Genome Informatics 2025

Reproducible transcriptomic pipeline development

How can multi-omics workflows be made reproducible, teachable, and FAIR for non-model organisms?

Approach

Modular pipelines (assembly → annotation → mitogenome mining → phylogenetics) documented on GitHub, Galaxy, and GitBook.

Why it matters beyond academia

Production-style workflow engineering: versioned, containerized, documented.

PythonGalaxyFAIR data