June 2018
New paper published reporting large collaborative effort to understand rat population genomics in 4 cities: NYC, New Orleans, Vancouver, and Salvador, Brazil. Full-text HTML and PDF
This work was also covered in the Washington Post.
March 2018
Ph.D. student Liz Carlen featured in the New York Times for her work on the population genomics of urban pigeons
January 2018
New preprint posted to BioRxiv with E.E. Puckett: “Brown rat demography reveals pre-commensal structure in eastern Asia prior to expansion into SE Asia during the Song dynasty”
November 2017
New review paper on “Evolution of life in urban environments“ published in Science along with an explainer video. See coverage in CITYLAB, Yale e360, and the CBC. Click HERE for links to free HTML or PDF.
Three new papers published on evolutionary biology of rats including REU student coauthors Destiny Mims, Olivia Micci-Smith, and Laura Angley!
- Combs, M. et al. Spatial population genomics of the brown rat (Rattus norvegicus) in New York City. Molecular Ecology doi:10.1111/mec.14437 (*covered in The Atlantic and many other sources)
- Puckett, E.E., et al. Genomic analyses identify multiple Asian origins and deeply diverged mitochondrial clades in inbred brown rats (Rattus norvegicus). Evolutionary Applications doi:10.1111/eva.12572
- Angley, L., et al. Spatial variation in the parasite communities and genomic structure of urban rats in New York City. Zoonoses and Public Health doi:10.1111/zph.12418
October 2017
New paper on signatures of selection in urban white-footed mice published in Molecular Ecology. (click here for PDF). Results covered in New Scientist and Gizmodo.
September 2017
New paper on the population genomics of range expansion in white-footed mice published in Heredity (click for PDF).
Essay on the lab’s research on the population genomics of urban rodents published in Nautilus.
July 2017
Lab’s research on rats featured in Fordham magazine.
June 2017
New commentary published in the Journal of Urban Ecology on the need for, and difficulties in, studying urban rat populations.
May 2017
Three lab PhD students, Matt Combs, Nicole Fusco, and Carol Henger, all passed their qualifying exams! Congratulations!!
March 2017
Papers published on morphological differentiation in urban white-footed mice with Yale undergraduate Aimy Yu, and carrion beetle diversity in NYC metropolitan area with REU student Anthony Zhao.
January 2017
Paper published on phylogeography and population genetics of Congo River cichlids with Liz Alter and Melanie Stiassny. Also see writeup in Science.
December 2016
Op-Ed published in NY Daily News on the need for coherent urban wildlife policies in NYC.
October 2016
New paper on global phylogeography and admixture of brown rats published in Proceedings B. (click here for PDF) This paper was covered in The New York Times in a column by Carl Zimmer.
Jason spoke to local NPR affiliates in Seattle and New York City about increasing rat infestations around the country.
August 2016
New review paper published on transcriptomics of Peromyscus (deer mice); PDF
Lab’s research on urban Peromyscus is mentioned in a New York Times essay
April 2016
New paper published in Biology Letters that estimates the demographic history of urban white-footed mice using genomic data and coalescent modeling. This work was highlighted in Nature and on the LA Times Science Now section.
January 2016
New paper published in Evolutionary Applications that uses ddRAD-Seq to examine genome-wide variation in white-footed mice along an urban-to-rural gradient.
August 2015
Lab awarded a NSF MRI grant along with three colleagues to purchase a liquid-handling robot for the Louis Calder Center.
May 2015
Lab awarded NSF DEB grant to study the cityscape genomics and adaptations of rats (Rattus norvegicus)! More details here and in a New York Times Magazine story.