Austin Alleman
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Curriculum Vitae
Skill Highlights
• Traditional and RT-qPCR experience
• Nucleotide primer design
• Assays, protein/DNA purification, gel electrophoresis, gradients
• Bioinformatics, computational biology, and genomic analysis
• Analytical Pipeline Development
• Metabolic pathway mapping
• Laboratory maintenance, and safety
• Research project management
• Programming experience within an array of operating systems: OSX, Windows, Linux, and BSD
• Cross-platform computer networking
Academic Experience
| April 2012 – June 2014 | Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler – Graduate Researcher under Biology Department Chair Srini Kambhampati • Annotated and described genomes from Blattabacterium in order to elucidate its metabolic and physiological function within its cockroach host. • Performed laboratory extraction and purification of bacterial DNA. • Obtained and quickly learned to use an array of computational biology programs. • Independently developed computational pipelines resulting in more efficient data Analysis. |
| January 2012 – May 2012 | Department of Biology, University of Texas at Tyler – Undergraduate Researcher under Professor Neil B. Ford • General husbandry of Thamnophis marcianus in order to verify compensatory growth within this species. • Performed and obtained accurate physical measurements, providing a detailed and complete dataset for extensive statistical Analysis. |
Forschungsinteressen
PhD Project
Social slavery has independently evolved numerous times within the ant genus Temnothorax. The results of phenotypic studies suggest that slavermaker and host species co-evolve through reciprocal adaptations. The genetic basis of slavemaking behavior, however, remains unknown. Thus, the primary objective of my project is to elucidate the genetic basis for slavemaking behavior and host defense against slavemakers, division of labor within slavemaker species, and host-slavemaker co-evolution. In order to accomplish this, gene expression patterns of worker behavior will be compared between slavemaker ant species and their closely-related host species. Through the use of Bioinformatics applications and a number of analytical pipelines to manipulate RNA-seq data, I seek to not only expand our understanding of the genetic basis for differential behavior between slavemakers and hosts, but also to provide insight into the evolution of the slavemaker-host system.
Publikationen
Alleman, A., Stoldt, M., Feldmeyer, B., Foitzik, S. Tandem-Running and Scouting Behavior is Characterized by Up-Regulation of Learning and Memory Formation Genes within the Ant Brain. Molecular Ecology, in press.
Kohlmeier, P., Alleman, A., Libbrecht, R., Foitzik S.* Feldmeyer, B.*, (2019) Gene expression is more strongly associated with behavioural specialisation than with age or fertility in ant workers. Molecular Ecology, 28: 658-670. (*shared last author)
Alleman, A., Feldmeyer, B., Foitzik, S. (2018) Comparative analyses of co-evolving host-parasite associations reveal unique gene expression patterns underlying slavemaker raiding and host defensive phenotypes. Scientific Reports 8: 1951
Feldmeyer, B, Elsner, D. Alleman, A, Foitzik S. Species-specific genes under selection characterize the co-evolution of slavemaker and host lifestyles. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 17:237.
Kambhampati S, Alleman A, Park Y. (2013). Complete Genome Sequence of the endosymbiont Blattabacterium from the Cockroach Nauphoeta cinerea (Blattodea: Blaberidae). Genomics. Vol. 102, No. 5-6, pg. 479-483.
Alleman, A. (2014). Blattabacterium Genome: Structure, Function, and Evolution. Master’s Thesis