Postdocs
Roman joined the lab in September 2008, after completing his Ph.D. with Manyuan Long at the University of Chicago. Roman has been combining genetic, behavioral and physiological approaches to understand the genetics underlying population differences in chemosensation.
Roman joined the lab in September 2008, after completing his Ph.D with Manyuan Long at the University of Chicago. Roman has been combining genetic, behavioral and physiological approaches to understand the genetics underlying population differences in chemosensation. He also continues to work on population genetic questions related to gene family evolution.
Julien joined the Clark lab after receiving his Ph.D.
from North Carolina State University working under Drs Trudy Mackay and Eric Stone. During his doctorate, he took a systems genetics approach to dissect the genetic basis of complex traits in Drosophila melanogaster.
Julien Ayroles
received his B.S. in ecology and evolution from theUniversity Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France. He completed his Masters at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Natural resources and environmental sciences, working on the genetic basis of inbreeding depression under Dr Ken Paige. He received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University working under Drs. Trudy Mackay and Eric Stone. During his doctorate, he took a systems genetics approach to dissect the genetic basis of complex traits in Drosophila melanogaster. Currently a Harvard Junior Fellow, Julien studies the relationship between standing natural genetic variation and phenotypic variation bridging theoretical and empirical approaches. He is also interested in developing experimental methods to detect and quantify genetic interactions, such as transcriptional networks and epistasis.Ran joined the lab in April 2010 after completing a PhD in Human Genetics at the University of Chicago. During his PhD studies with Yoav Gilad, Ran's research focused on understanding the evolutionary forces acting on gene regulation in primates.
Clement is interested in evolutionary genetics in both Drosophila and humans. Currently, he is studying the evolutionary and population genetics of sperm competition.
Clement Chow began his work in the lab in August 2008, after completing his Ph.D. in Human Genetics with Miriam Meisler at the University of Michigan. He is co-advised by Andy and Mariana Wolfner and is interested in evolutionary genetics in both Drosophila and humans. Currently, he is studying the evolutionary and population genetics of sperm competition. He is exploring the consequences of male x female genetic interactions in maintaining the high level of polymorphism in seminal proteins. He also continues to explore various issues in human genetics.
Tim completed a Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Lacey Knowles at the University of Michigan, where he studied the evolutionary consequences of X-linked inheritance and sex-specific natural and sexual selection in fruit flies. He joined the Clark lab in September 2009.
Tim completed a Ph.D. in the lab of Dr. Lacey Knowles at the University of Michigan, where he studied the evolutionary consequences of X-linked inheritance and sex-specific natural and sexual selection in fruit flies. He joined the Clark lab in September 2009. Tim is working to develop theoretical models of adaptation on the X and Y chromosomes and autosomes, with the specific goal of generating predictions to be tested using comparative genomics and gene expression data.
Receiving his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Alex joined the Clark lab in July 2008. 
Jian is currently studying the regulatory roles of microRNAs, a field that he has gained experience in during his PhD. In our lab he in investigating their involvement in the innate immunity of Drosophila.
Li joined the Clark lab in August 2010 after finishing his Ph.D. degree in Animal Science from the University of Minnesota.
Li joined the Clark lab in August 2010 after finishing his Ph.D. degree in Animal Science from the University of Minnesota. Li is interested in developing statistical methods and computational tools for mapping genetic factors associated with complex disesases and traits.
Rich Meisel is interested in the evolution of the genic content and organization of genomes, as well as the evolution of sex chromosomes and sex-biased gene expression.
Rich Meisel is interested in the evolution of the genic content and organization of genomes, as well as the evolution of sex chromosomes and sex-biased gene expression. Rich earned his Ph.D. working with Steve Schaeffer at Penn State University, where he studied the origin and evolution of gene duplications and chromosomal rearrangements in Drosophila. He is currently examining the evolution of gene expression on the D. willistoni neo-X chromosome to understand how sexually antagonistic selection, spermatogenic X-inactivation, and dosage compensation affect sex-biased gene expression.
Margarida joined the Clark lab in June 2009 after completing her Ph.D. research in Manyuan Long's lab at the University of Chicago. She is interested in studying the mutational and selective forces shaping copy number variation as well as the functional consequences of copy number variants (CNV's). Currently, Margarida is using the Drosophila immune system as a model to explore these topics.
Margarida joined the Clark lab in June 2009 after completing her PhD research in Dr. Manyuan Long's lab at the University of Chicago. She is interested in studying the mutational and selective forces shaping copy number variation as well as the functional consequences of copy number variants (CNV's). Currently, Margarida is using the Drosophila immune system as a model to explore these topics.Srilakshmi (Sri) joined the Clark lab in November 2011 after completing a PhD with Dr. Toomas Kivisild at the University of Cambridge. During her PhD, she worked on the genetics of Indian populations, as well as understanding climate- and diet-mediated selection in Asian populations. Currently, Sri is interested in understanding the genetics of complex traits, particularly metabolic and heart diseases. Ultimately, Sri is interested in using quantitative, evolutionary and population genetic approaches towards solving medical problems.
Rob joined the Clark lab in August 2011 after completing his Ph.D. with John Jaenika and Allen Orr at the University of Rochester. He is interested in the ecological and evolutionary consequences of genetic conflict, particularly sex-ratio meiotic drive.
Cris received his M.A. in statistics and Ph.D. in human genetics from the University of Michigan. His thesis research focused on the implications of the unique genomic architecture of founder populations, specifically, the Old Order Amish, on disease and quantitative trait genetic models.
Upon completing his graduate work and receiving his Ph.D. in August 2011, Xu was reappointed as a Research Associate in the Clark Lab. He recently completed a study of identifying novel imprinted gene in P2 neonatal mice brain by Illumina/Solexa sequencing the entire transcriptome and he is also investigating human linkage maps.
Upon completing his graduate work and receiving his Ph.D. in August
2011, Xu was reappointed as a Research Associate in the Clark Lab. He recently completed a study of identifying novel imprinted gene in P2 neonatal mice brain by Illumina/Solexa sequencing the entire transcriptome, has also done inference of human gene imprinting using hybridizations of cDNA to coding SNP chips with Katie Pollard and Kelly Frazer. Xu is also examining human linkage maps, and relating them to the patterns of linkage disequilibrium using high density SNP genotype data.Grad students
Nancy is interested the genetic basis of adaptation in natural populations, with a focus on the evolution of disease resistance and how organisms respond to varying pathogen pressures.
Nancy is interested the genetic basis of adaptation in natural populations, with a focus on the evolution of disease resistance and how organisms respond to varying pathogen pressures. Her current research applies novel sequencing technologies to identify W-specific contigs in the chicken genome. Part of Nancy's dissertation research will be on population genetics and genomics of the Florida Scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens), which have experienced sporadic high mortality events putatively caused by an arbovirus. She is assembling a genome-wide SNP database for the Florida Scrub-Jay to test for disease-driven selection and to investigate the genetic consequences of recent and historical epizootics.
Angela Early is a second-year graduate student in the field of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and is broadly interested in the evolution of immunity, host-pathogen interactions, and the evolution of symbiotic relationships.
Angela Early is a second-year graduate student in the field of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and is broadly interested in the evolution of immunity, host-pathogen interactions, and the evolution of symbiotic relationships. Currently she is addressing these interests through study of Drosophila gut bacteria. She is approaching this system from both the insect and microbe perspectives and is interested in how the microbial communities interact within themselves and with the host.Haley is a graduate student in the Tri-I Computational Biology and Medicine program and joined the lab in 2010. She is interested in using and developing identity-by-descent inference methods in genome-wide association studies.
Keegan is a first-year graduate student in the field of Genetics and Development. He is currently rotating with the Clark lab and has primary interests in understanding genetic contributions to complex traits adn quantitative traits.
Keegan is a first-year graduate student in the field of Genetics and Development. He is currently rotating with the Clark lab and has primary interests in understanding genetic contributions to complex traits adn quantitative traits. Currently, his rotation project involves genomic sequencing and alignment of Drosophila lab lines for use in obesity research through Illumina short read technology. Prior to studies at Cornell, Keegan most recently worked for several years in the lab of Dr. Jeff Murray, a human genetics lab at the University of Iowa. There, he performed research on both the genetics of premature birth and, separately, Specific Language Impairment.
Conny joined the Clark Lab in 2009 assisting on the Drosophila Obesity project. She is also interested in fly immunity and copy number variation in humans.
Conni joined the Clark Lab in 2009 assisting in the Drosophila obesity project. She also started a project investigating novel interactions within Drosophila immunity. In the future Conny is also planning to continue along the tracks of her Master studies at Imperial College London by looking into copy number variances in humans and their distribution and association to common diseases.Kevin received his bachelor degree from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec in 2009. He joined the Genetics & Development graduate program at Cornell in 2010. His thesis project is a collaborative effort between the Clark and the Barbash lab, where he is investigating the extent of heterochromatin variation in Drosophila. Also, he is interested in identifying loci displaying parent-of-origin effect (e.g. imprinting) genome wide.
Other
Lori joined the Clark lab in September 2009 as an Administrative Assistant to Dr. Clark and his research team. Lori's background in financial management and experience with Cornell policies and processes, both in research and administration, helps to keep the lab running smoothly.
Jen is a Senior Research Associate focused on high-throughput genomics projects. Jen's interest and experience in technology development and genomics is applicable to a variety of Clark lab research projects.
Jen joined the lab in October 2009 as a Research Associate focused on high-throughput genomics projects. Jen's interest and experience in technology development and genomics is applicable to a variety of Clark lab research projects. Most recently, Jen worked in the RNAi Platform at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT to develop a high-throughput quantitative PCR program to validate knockdown of the TRC shRNA library. She also has a background in nucleic acid technology development in small biotech. Jen has a Ph.D. in Genetics from UW-Madison where she worked with Sean Carroll on the evolution and developmental role of Hox genes in arthropods and related phyla. She also is the co-author of "From DNA to Diversity: Molecular Genetics and the Evolution of Animal Design".